INTRODUCTION TO FERRITE

Magnetic materials which have combined electrical and magnetic properties are known as
ferrites. Iron oxide and metal oxides are the main constituents of the ferrites. The importance of
ferrite material has been known to mankind for many centuries. In early 12 centuries then
Chinese were known to use lodestones (Fe3O4) in compasses for navigation .The practical use of
ferrite and its study for structural, electrical and magnetic properties have started in the year
1930. Since then ferrites are extensively studied by many researchers. Ferrite materials are
insulating magnetic oxides and possess high electrical resistivity, low eddy current and dielectric
losses, high saturation magnetization, high permeability and moderate permittivity. No material
with such wide ranging properties exists and therefore ferrites are unique magnetic materials
which find applications in almost all fields. Ferrites are highly sensitive to preparation method,
sintering condition, amount of constituent metal oxides, various additives include in dopants and
impurities. Ferrites are magnetic oxide materials with semiconducting nature which are of great
technological importance by virtue of their interesting electrical and magnetic properties. They
are used in transformer cores, antenna rods, memory chips, high density magnetic recording
media, permanent magnets, transducers, activators, microwave and computer technology etc. The
ferrites in nanocrystalline form found applications in new fields like magnetically guided drug
delivery, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), catalyst, humidity and gas sensors, magnetic fluids
etc .The polycrystalline ferrites remain the best magnetic material which cannot be replaceable
by any other magnetic materials because of their important contribution in technological
applications. Therefore the processing of these materials is important in modifying the properties
as per the desired applications.
Ferrites exhibit dielectric properties. Exhibiting dielectric properties means that even though
electromagnetic waves can pass through ferrites, they do not readily conduct electricity. This also
gives them an advantage over iron, nickel and other transition metals that have magnetic
properties in many applications because these metals conduct electricity. Another important
factor, which is of considerable importance in ferrites and is completely insignificant in metals,
is the porosity. Such a consideration helps us to explain why ferrites have been used and studied
for several years. The properties of ferrites are being improved due to the increasing trends in
ferrites technology. It is believed that there is a bright future for ferrite technology.

PHYSICS IN FERRITE
The advance made in physics of solids has led too much of the recent progress in science and
technology. Physics of condensed matter draw attention to chemical composition, atomic
configuration, electrical, crystal structure, magnetic ordering and saturation magnetization and
the special preference of metallic ions for interstitial sites in the spinel lattice etc. of the solids. It
also helps to co-relate the physical and chemical properties of solids and their use in
technological applications. In the recent years, solid state physics mainly concentrates on crystal
structure, chemical and physical properties of solids. A proper understanding of the nature and
properties of solids form the basis for developing new tailor made materials with the desired
properties that can be used in many electrical and electronic devices. Ferrites are in
general ferromagnetic ceramic materials consisting of ferric oxide in major
portion and metal oxides. On the basis of their crystal structure they can be

grouped in to three categories namely, spinel ferrite, cubic garnet and

hexagonal ferrites.
The molecular formula of ferrites is M2+O.Fe3+2O3, where M stands for the divalent metal
such as Fe, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Mg, Zn or Cd. There are 8 molecules per unit cell in a spinel
structure. There are 32 oxygen (O2-) ions, 16 Fe3+ ions and 8 M2+ ions, per unit cell. Out of
them, 8 Fe3+ ions and 8 M2+ ions occupy the octahedral sites. Each ion is surrounded by 6
oxygen ions. Among the different types of ferrite exhibits large applications and are widely used
in telecommunication devices.

TYPES OF FERRITE
Ferrite can be classified into three different types
(I) Spinel ferrite (Cubic ferrite)
(II) Hexagonal ferrite
(III) Garnet
I) Spinel Ferrite
They are also called cubic ferrite. Spinel is the most widely used family of ferrite. High values of
electrical resistivity and low eddy current losses make them ideal for their use at microwave
frequencies. The spinel structure of ferrite as possessed by mineral spinel MgAl2O4 was first
determined by Bragg and Nishikawa in 1915 [13, 14].The chemical composition of a spinel
ferrite can be written in general as MFe2O4 where M is a divalent metal ion such as Co2+,
Zn2+, Fe2+,Mg2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Cu2+ or a combination of these ions such. The unit cell of
spinel ferrite is FCC with eight formula units per unit cell. The formula can be written as
M8Fe16O32. The anions are the greatest and they form an FCC lattice. Within these lattices two
types of interstitial positions occur and these are occupied by the metallic cations. There are 96
interstitial sites in the unit cell, 64 tetrahedral (A) and 32 octahedral (B) sites. Ni-Cu-Zn (NCZ)
come under the umbrella of the soft ferrite and chemically symbolized as MFe2O4. Ni-Cu-Zn
(NCZ) ferrites are a solid solution of inverse NiFe2O4, CuFe2O4 and normal ZnFe2O4 ferrite.
Due to the favorable fit of charge distribution, Ni2+ and Cu2+ ions show their strong preference
to the octahedral B-site. Zn2+ ions show a strong preference for tetrahedral A-site due to its
electronic configuration. NCZ spinel ferrite with their ease of preparation and versatility for use
in wide ranging applications are commercially very attractive. These ferrites are used in the
surface mount devices (SMD) and multilayer chip-inductors (MLCI) due to their high electrical
resistivity and excellent soft magnetic properties at high frequencies. The spinel ferrite has been
classified into three categories due to the distribution of cations on tetrahedral (A) and octahedral
(B) sites.
II) Hexagonal ferrites
This was first identified by Went, Rathenau, Gorter and VanOostershout 1952 and Jonker, Wijn
and Braun 1956. Hexa ferrites are hexagonal or rhombohedral ferromagnetic oxides with
formula MFe12O19, where M is an element like Barium, Lead or Strontium. In these ferrites,
oxygen ions have closed packed hexagonal crystal structure. They are widely used as permanent
magnets and have high coercivity. They are used at very high frequency. Their hexagonal ferrite

lattice is similar to the spinel structure with closely packed oxygen ions, but there are also metal
ions at some layers with the same ionic radii as that of oxygen ions. Hexagonal ferrites have
larger ions than that of garnet ferrite and are formed by the replacement of oxygen ions.
Most of these larger ions are barium, strontium or lead.
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III) Garnets
Yoder and Keith reported in 1951 that substitutions can bemade in ideal mineral garnet
Mn3Al2Si3O12. They produced the first silicon free garnet Y3Al5O12 by substituting
YIII+AlIII for MnII+SiIV. Bertaut and Forret prepared [18] Y3Fe5O12 in 1956 and measured
their magnetic properties. In 1957 Geller and Gilleo prepared and investigated Gd3Fe5O12
which is also a ferromagnetic compound.
The general formulas for the unit cell of a pure iron garnet have eightformula units of
M3Fe5O12, where M is the trivalent rare earth ions (Y, Gd, Dy). Their cell shape is cubic and the
edge length is about 12.5 . They have complex crystal structure. They are important due to their
application in memory strucrure.

Tantalate:

Tantalate is a tantalum-containing anion or a salt of such an anion. A commercially important

example is heptafluorotantalate (TaF72) and its potassium salt (K2TaF7).
Many oxides of tantalum are called tantalates. They are viewed as derivatives of "tantalic acid",
hypothetic compounds with the formulas Ta2O5nH2O or HTaO3). Examples of such tantalates
are lithium tantalate (LiTaO3), lutetium tantalate (LuTaO4) and lead scandium tantalate (PST
or Pb(ScxTa1-x)O3. Polyoxometallates containing tantalum provide examples of discrete tantalum
oxides that exist in solution.

Zirconate:
Zirconates are compounds which contain zirconium oxyanions. They are most commonly used
in the production of advanced ceramic materials. These materials frequently exhibit dielectric
and ferroelectric properties that make them useful in electronics applications, and additionally
can be used as components of high-temperature solid electrolytes in fuel cells.
One of the most common and useful zirconate ceramics is lead zirconate titanate (PZT). It is a
ceramic perovskite material similar to barium strontium titanate (BST) and shows a marked
piezoelectric effectit produces an electrical charge when mechanically compressed, a
phenomenon exploited in the production of sophisticated electronic sensors. The piezoelectric
effect also works in the opposite directionPZT can be induced to physically change shape
when an external electric field is applied, making it very valuable in actuator applications.
PZT is also pyroelectric, meaning that it develops a voltage difference across two of its faces
when it experiences a temperature change, making it useful as a heat detecting sensor. It is also
ferroelectric, which means it exhibits a spontaneous electric polarization which can be reversed
in the presence of an electric field. These properties make PZT-based compounds one of the most
prominent and useful electroceramics.

Uses:
Commercially, PZT is rarely used in its pure form; rather, it is typically doped with either
acceptor dopants or donor dopants. In general, acceptor doping creates hard PZT while donor
doping creates soft PZT, which generally differ in their piezoelectric constants. Soft PZT has a
higher piezoelectric constant, but larger losses in the material due to internal friction. In hard
PZT, domain wall motion is pinned by the impurities, decreasing losses in the material but at the
expense of a reduced piezoelectric constant.
PZT-based compounds are used in the manufacture of items such as ultrasound transducers,
STM/AFM actuators, high-value ceramic capacitors, FRAM chips, uncooled staring array
infrared imaging sensors for thermographic cameras, and other types of sensors. PZT is also used
in the manufacture of ceramic resonators for reference timing in electronic circuitry.