Microstructural,magnetic and dielectric performance of rare earth ion (Sm3+)-doped MgCd ferrites

The combined effects of Sm$^{3+}$ substitution together with the addition of 3 wt% Bi$_{2}$O$_{3}$ endow MgCd ferrites with excellent magnetic permeability and dielectric permittivity. Various concentrations of Sm$^{3+}$ ($x = 0$, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09, 0.12 and 0.15) were employed to modify the permeability ($\mu'$) and permittivity ($\varepsilon'$) of the MgCd ferrites. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometry and vector network analysis techniques were used to characterize the samples. The measurement results reveal that the ferrites processed a saturation magnetization of up to 36.8 emu/g and coercivity of up to 29.2 Oe via the conventional solid-state reaction method. The surface morphology SEM confirms that with increasing Sm$^{3+}$ concentration, the grain shape changes from a polygon to a circle. Moreover, the dielectric permittivity can reach a value of 23. The excellent properties obtained in Sm$^{3+}$-substituted Mg ferrites suggest that they could be promising candidates for modern high-frequency antenna substrates or multilayer devices.