UniversityWafer supplies barium titanate (BaTiO3) crystal substrates for research in ferroelectricity, dielectric materials, piezoelectric devices, electro-optic systems, photonics, MEMS, and oxide thin-film growth. BaTiO3 is a perovskite oxide known for its strong dielectric response and ferroelectric behavior below its Curie temperature, making it useful for capacitors, sensors, actuators, tunable devices, and advanced materials research. Choose from available crystal orientations, dimensions, thicknesses, and polished surface finishes for experimental and device-development applications.
Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is a ceramic perovskite oxide widely studied for its ferroelectric, dielectric, piezoelectric, and electro-optic properties. These characteristics make BaTiO3 useful for research involving capacitors, sensors, actuators, tunable electronic components, electro-optic devices, and oxide thin-film systems.
UniversityWafer can help researchers source research substrates in specialized materials and dimensions. Depending on availability and the experiment, BaTiO3 may be requested as single-crystal substrates, ceramic plates, or other custom forms.
A technology director requested the following:
Our company requires barium titanate (BaTiO3), preferably in planar form with approximate dimensions of 4 × 4 inches and a thickness between 0.020 and 0.050 inches, for use as a substrate in an electronic sensing device.
Both single-crystal and polycrystalline forms may be considered. Smaller dimensions may also be suitable if a 4-inch-square plate is unavailable.
Please provide available specifications and pricing for a sample quantity.
Reference #109811 for specifications and pricing.
At room temperature, bulk BaTiO3 is normally in a ferroelectric tetragonal phase. Its spontaneous polarization can be reoriented by an applied electric field, and its electromechanical response makes the material useful for studying sensors, actuators, and other functional devices.
BaTiO3 is also piezoelectric in its ferroelectric phase. Mechanical stress can therefore produce an electrical response, while an applied electric field can produce mechanical strain. This electromechanical coupling is one reason BaTiO3 and related ferroelectric ceramics are investigated for pressure, vibration, acoustic, and displacement sensing.
Device performance, however, depends strongly on the material form and processing history. Single-crystal and polycrystalline BaTiO3 should not be assumed to have identical properties. Crystal orientation, grain size, domain structure, defects, stoichiometry, electrode configuration, frequency, temperature, and poling state can all influence the measured dielectric, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric response.
A second common research application for barium titanate is the study of high-permittivity dielectric layers and capacitors. A parallel-plate capacitor consists of two conductive electrodes separated by a dielectric material. Its idealized capacitance can be expressed as:
C = ε0εrA / d
where C is capacitance, ε0 is the vacuum permittivity, εr is the relative permittivity of the dielectric, A is electrode area, and d is dielectric thickness.
A senior research scientist requested the following:
We are looking for a substrate or base plate for a parallel-plate capacitor, with a thickness between approximately 0.127 and 1.15 mm.
Candidate dielectric materials include BaTiO3, PZT, and BST. The requested dielectric constant range is approximately 400–6000.
Reference #197652 for specifications and pricing.
The requested dielectric-constant range should be treated as an application requirement rather than a universal property of BaTiO3. The relative permittivity of barium titanate can vary substantially with temperature, measurement frequency, crystal orientation, microstructure, electric-field amplitude, composition, defects, and proximity to a ferroelectric phase transition.
For capacitor experiments, researchers should therefore specify the required frequency, operating temperature, dielectric loss, thickness, electrode geometry, and acceptable permittivity range rather than selecting a substrate from a nominal dielectric constant alone.
BaTiO3 belongs to the broader family of ferroelectric materials. Ferroelectrics possess a spontaneous electric polarization that can be switched between stable states by an applied electric field under suitable conditions.
BaTiO3 is especially important in materials research because it has the ABO3 perovskite structure and exhibits temperature-dependent structural and ferroelectric phase transitions. It is frequently used as a model system for studying polarization, ferroelectric domains, dielectric response, piezoelectricity, interfaces, and epitaxial oxide heterostructures.
A PhD candidate requested the following:
I am looking for a ferroelectric plate approximately 300 mm × 300 mm × 1 mm.
Candidate materials include BaTiO3, Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 (PZT), SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT), and (Bi,La)4Ti3O12 (BLT). Please provide available materials, dimensions, and pricing.
Reference #221704 for specifications and pricing.
These materials all have important ferroelectric applications, but they are not interchangeable. Their crystal structures, polarization, coercive fields, dielectric response, processing requirements, thermal behavior, and achievable substrate dimensions can differ substantially.
Researchers requesting a BaTiO3 crystal substrate should provide as much information as possible about the intended experiment. Important specifications can include:
Specifying the actual experimental requirements is especially important for ferroelectric materials because their measured electrical and electromechanical properties can depend strongly on both the material and the measurement conditions.
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Barium titanate (BaTiO3) is an oxide ceramic with the perovskite ABO3 crystal structure. It is one of the most extensively studied ferroelectric materials because its electrical, electromechanical, and optical properties can be strongly influenced by temperature, electric field, crystal orientation, strain, domain structure, composition, and processing conditions.
At room temperature, bulk BaTiO3 is normally in its tetragonal ferroelectric phase. In this phase, the material possesses spontaneous electric polarization that can be reoriented by an applied electric field. BaTiO3 also exhibits dielectric, piezoelectric, and electro-optic responses that make single crystals, ceramics, and thin films useful for a wide range of materials and device research.
BaTiO3 crystal substrates can be used directly as functional dielectric or ferroelectric materials and as crystalline platforms for thin-film growth, interface studies, photonic structures, sensors, and experimental electronic devices.
Below its ferroelectric-to-paraelectric transition temperature, BaTiO3 exhibits spontaneous polarization. Its polarization state can be switched by a sufficiently strong applied electric field, producing the characteristic polarization-electric-field hysteresis associated with ferroelectric materials.
Bulk BaTiO3 undergoes its tetragonal-to-cubic transition near 120 °C, although the precise transition temperature and behavior can vary with composition, strain, defects, grain size, and sample form. Above this transition, bulk BaTiO3 is normally cubic and paraelectric rather than ferroelectric.
BaTiO3 can exhibit a large relative permittivity, which is one reason barium-titanate-based ceramics are extensively used in dielectric capacitor technology.
However, BaTiO3 should not be assigned a single universal dielectric constant. Its measured permittivity depends strongly on temperature, frequency, crystal orientation, domain configuration, grain size, defects, electric field, and processing history. Particularly large values can occur near a ferroelectric phase transition.
BaTiO3 is piezoelectric in its non-centrosymmetric ferroelectric phase. Mechanical stress can generate an electrical response, while an applied electric field can produce mechanical deformation.
These coupled electrical and mechanical properties are useful for research involving sensors, actuators, resonators, acoustic devices, and MEMS.
BaTiO3 can exhibit a strong electro-optic response, meaning its refractive properties can change when an electric field is applied. This makes BaTiO3 interesting for optical modulation, integrated photonics, tunable optical structures, and related electro-optic research.
Ferroelectric BaTiO3 is also a non-centrosymmetric material and can exhibit second-order nonlinear optical effects, including second-harmonic generation under suitable conditions.
BaTiO3 should not simply be described as a "high-temperature ferroelectric." Its crystal structure and functional properties change with temperature. Bulk BaTiO3 undergoes several structural phase transitions as it is cooled or heated, and its ferroelectric behavior disappears above its Curie region.
Researchers working across a wide temperature range should therefore evaluate the relevant phase, dielectric response, polarization, and other properties at the actual operating temperature.
BaTiO3 is one of the most important dielectric materials used in modern ceramic capacitor technology. In particular, engineered BaTiO3-based ceramics are widely used as dielectric layers in multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).
A single-crystal BaTiO3 substrate is useful for more fundamental studies of dielectric response, ferroelectric domains, polarization switching, electrode interfaces, field-dependent permittivity, and related capacitor phenomena.
Because its polarization can be electrically switched, BaTiO3 is widely used as a model material for investigating ferroelectric devices. Research areas include ferroelectric capacitors, nonvolatile switching concepts, domain-wall behavior, tunable electronics, and polarization-controlled interfaces.
BaTiO3 and related perovskite oxides have also been investigated for ferroelectric memory and high-permittivity electronic structures. However, this should be distinguished from saying that bulk BaTiO3 substrates are a standard dielectric in contemporary commercial DRAM manufacturing.
The electromechanical response of ferroelectric BaTiO3 makes it useful for research involving pressure, force, vibration, acoustic, and displacement sensing, as well as electrically driven actuators.
BaTiO3 is also attractive as a lead-free piezoelectric material for research into alternatives to lead-containing systems such as PZT. Practical transducer performance depends on composition, microstructure, orientation, poling, electrode configuration, and device geometry.
BaTiO3 thin films and related ferroelectric structures are investigated for integration with MEMS and microsystems.
Potential research applications include microscale actuators, resonators, pressure sensors, acoustic structures, tunable components, and devices that exploit piezoelectric or ferroelectric behavior.
The electro-optic response of BaTiO3 has made it an important research material for integrated photonics. BaTiO3 thin films and heterostructures can be integrated with optical waveguides to investigate electrically controlled phase shifting and modulation.
The suitability of BaTiO3 for a particular optical device depends on wavelength, absorption, crystal quality, orientation, film or substrate thickness, domain structure, and optical geometry. It should therefore not be described as universally transparent across all wavelengths.
Non-centrosymmetric ferroelectric BaTiO3 can support second-order nonlinear optical interactions. Research can include second-harmonic generation, frequency conversion, nonlinear optical characterization, and studies of how ferroelectric domains influence optical response.
Single-crystal BaTiO3 can serve as a functional substrate or component in oxide heterostructures. Researchers study interfaces between ferroelectric, dielectric, semiconducting, magnetic, and other functional materials to understand polarization coupling, strain, charge transfer, screening, and interface-driven phenomena.
For epitaxial thin-film research, substrate selection must consider crystallographic orientation, lattice parameters, thermal expansion, surface termination, surface roughness, chemical compatibility, and growth temperature. BaTiO3 is therefore not automatically an appropriate epitaxial template for every oxide material.
BaTiO3 is also investigated in heterostructures incorporating 2D materials such as graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides.
In these systems, ferroelectric polarization can modify the local electrostatic environment of an adjacent material. This enables research into polarization-dependent carrier modulation, interface screening, hysteresis, nonvolatile gating concepts, and other coupled phenomena.
BaTiO3, silicon, fused silica, sapphire, and strontium titanate have very different electrical, optical, mechanical, and crystallographic properties. The comparison below is intentionally qualitative because many properties vary with wavelength, temperature, frequency, orientation, purity, and processing.
| Property | BaTiO3 | Si | SiO2 / Fused Silica | Sapphire | SrTiO3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material Class | Ferroelectric perovskite oxide | Semiconductor | Insulating oxide glass | Crystalline insulating oxide | Perovskite oxide |
| Relative Permittivity | High and strongly condition-dependent | ~11.7 at room temperature | ~3.8–4 | ~9–11, orientation/frequency dependent | High and strongly temperature-dependent |
| Ferroelectric at Ambient Conditions | Yes, bulk material | No | No | No | No, bulk SrTiO3 is normally an incipient/quantum paraelectric |
| Piezoelectric | Yes in the ferroelectric phase | No in bulk centrosymmetric Si | No | Generally no in bulk sapphire | Not normally piezoelectric in unstrained bulk material |
| Optical Behavior | Wavelength and crystal-quality dependent | Strongly wavelength dependent; transparent in parts of the IR | Broad optical transparency | Broad optical transparency | Transparent over selected spectral regions |
| Common Research Role | Ferroelectric, dielectric, piezoelectric and electro-optic research | Semiconductor devices, MEMS and photonics | Optics, dielectric layers and transparent substrates | Optics, epitaxy and harsh-environment substrates | Functional oxide epitaxy and interface research |
Researchers should select a BaTiO3 substrate according to the actual electrical, optical, mechanical, and crystallographic requirements of the experiment. Important specifications can include:
Because BaTiO3 properties are highly dependent on experimental conditions, specifying only a nominal dielectric constant or simply requesting "ferroelectric BaTiO3" may not be sufficient for selecting the appropriate substrate.