Ceradyne has been providing ceramics, cathodes, and magnets to the high power microwave tube industry for almost 40 years. Our Ceralloy® ceramic components provide the enabling technology for innovative material solutions in today’s high power microwave applications.

Our materials are produced using state-of-the-art processing methods and diamond grinding techniques for custom components with exacting tolerances according to ISO9000:2000 quality standards.

A Wide Range of Applications

“Lossy” ceramics are designed to absorb microwave energy in specific frequency ranges based on specific electrical properties (dielectric constant and loss tangent). Ceradyne offers a complete line of “lossy” ceramics with repeatable electric properties and the capability to operate under high vacuum vacuum with no outgassing. Applications include:

Buttons

Buttons are components designed to “tune” the frequency of a coupled cavity microwave tube by absorbing energy in very specific frequency ranges. Ceradyne’s Ceralloy® 6703 and 6705 are particulate composites of magnesium oxide and silicon carbide where the absorbed frequency is a function of the composition.

Severs/Terminations

Severs/terminations absorb microwave energy over a very broad frequency range while exposed to high energy, requiring high thermal conductivity to dissipate heat and withstand thermal shock during operation. Ceralloy® 13740, 13740Y and 137 CD1 compositions are proven to meet these requirements through the use of aluminum nitride based materials.

Slot Mode Absorbers

Slot mode absorbers (SMA) are designed to absorb microwave energy over a broad frequency range; the composition is key to obtaining microwave absorption. Ceradyne produces the SMA geometry with Ceralloy® 7712, a particulate composite of aluminum oxide and silicon carbide.

Aluminum Nitride Components

Ceralloy® 1370DP is a sintered aluminum nitride material developed for thermal management applications. It is an electrical insulator having high thermal conductivity at room temperature (180-190 W/mK). Aluminum nitride thermal conductivity is similar to beryllium oxide at microwave operation temperature (150ºC).  This makes the material an ideal replacement to toxic beryllium oxide.  Ceralloy® 1370DP is capable of being formed into complex, three dimensional components for windows, collector rods and collectors in microwave applications.

To learn more, see our Microwave Ceramic Products brochure.