Structure and dielectric properties of Nd substituted Bi _1.5MgNb_1.5O₇ ceramics

New pyrochlore ceramics Bi_(1.5-x)Nd _x MgNb _1.5O₇ with x = 0-0.6 were synthesized by doping Nd into the A site in the Bi_1.5MgNb_1.5O₇ pyrochlore. The Nd substituted Bi_1.5MgNb_1.5O₇ ceramics were prepared utilizing solid-state reaction and investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and dielectric measurements. The crystal structure was characterized as single cubic pyrochlore phase for x ≤ 0.5 while the second phase appeared at x = 0.6. With increasing Nd content from 0 to 0.5, the lattice parameters decreased slightly and the average grain size pronouncedly reduced from ∼7.5 to ∼5.0 μm. The Nd incorporation resulted in attractive enhancement of the dielectric properties including the temperature coefficient of dielectric constant that was remarkably optimized with the lowest value of -16 ppm/ C at x = 0.5. A good combination of low dielectric loss, superior temperature coefficient and high dielectric permittivity can be achieved for the composition of x = 0.5, which seems to be very appealing for the practical use in high-frequency multilayer ceramic capacitors.