Method for manufacturing chip-type electronic component

Abstract

To provide a manufacturing method for a chip-type electronic component that allows a spacer to be formed in a desired position with high precision.SOLUTION: A manufacturing method for a chip-type electronic component in which a spacer is provided on the surface of an external electrode of an electronic component body having a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to a main body includes a step (S1) of preparing the electronic component body, a step (S2) of holding the electronic component body such that the plurality of external electrodes are exposed on the same side of the main body, a step (S3) of supplying metal paste into a plurality of recesses of an intaglio plate having the plurality of recesses, and a step (S4) of transferring the metal paste to the plurality of external electrodes by bringing the held electronic component body close to the intaglio plate and bringing each of the plurality of external electrodes exposed on the same side of the main body into contact with the metal paste in the plurality of recesses of the intaglio plate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing chip-type electronic components.

Background Art

[0002] A technique for mounting chip-type electronic components such as multilayer ceramic capacitors on a mounting substrate via a spacer is known. The spacer is provided, for example, to suppress a sound called "buzz" generated when the chip-type electronic component deforms the substrate when a voltage is applied to the chip-type electronic component.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a chip-type electronic component including a spacer mainly composed of an intermetallic compound containing at least one high melting point metal selected from Cu and Ni and Sn as a low melting point metal. The spacer of this chip-type electronic component is said to have sufficient heat resistance that does not melt even at the temperature during soldering.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Patent Document 1 describes that a spacer is formed by applying a metal paste by screen printing or a dispensing method or the like. The dispensing method can form a spacer with high accuracy, but has low productivity.

[0006] On the one hand, when forming spacers by screen printing, the productivity is higher than that of the dispensing method, but there is a possibility of misalignment of the formed spacers. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, by applying a metal paste 202 onto a mask 200 having a plurality of holes 201 and transferring the metal paste 202 onto a substrate 204 with a squeegee 203, a plurality of spacers can be formed at once, but high-precision alignment is required. For this reason, there is a possibility that spacers are formed at positions different from the desired positions.

[0007] The present invention solves the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component capable of accurately forming a spacer at a desired position.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component in which spacers are provided on the surfaces of external electrodes of an electronic component body having a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to the main body part, a step of preparing the electronic component body, a step of holding the electronic component body so that a plurality of the external electrodes are exposed on the same surface side of the main body part, a step of supplying a metal paste into the recesses of an intaglio plate having a plurality of recesses, a step of bringing the held electronic component body close to the intaglio plate and bringing each of the plurality of external electrodes exposed on the same surface side of the main body part into contact with the metal paste in the plurality of recesses of the intaglio plate, thereby transferring the metal paste to the plurality of external electrodes, characterized by comprising.

Effects of the Invention

[0009] According to the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component of the present invention, an electronic component body held such that a plurality of external electrodes are exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion is brought close to a gravure plate in which a metal paste is supplied into recesses, and each of the plurality of exposed external electrodes is transferred by bringing it into contact with the metal paste in the plurality of recesses. Therefore, spacers can be accurately formed on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes. That is, when the plurality of external electrodes protruding outward are brought into contact with the metal paste in the recesses of the gravure plate, the metal paste does not contact the main body portion whose surface is located inside with respect to the plurality of external electrodes. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of the metal paste to the main body portion. Further, since spacers are formed on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes by the transfer of the metal paste, high-precision alignment such as screen printing using a mask is not required.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be shown to specifically explain the features of the present invention.

[0012] The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component of the present invention is a method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component in which a spacer is provided on the surface of an external electrode of an electronic component body having a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to the main body portion. First, after briefly explaining the configuration of the electronic component body to which the spacer is to be provided, the method for manufacturing the chip-type electronic component will be described in detail.

[0013] Here, as an example of the electronic component body, the structure of a multilayer ceramic capacitor, which is a multilayer ceramic electronic component, will be described. In that case, the chip-type electronic component manufactured by the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component of the present invention is also a multilayer ceramic capacitor. However, the electronic component body is not limited to a multilayer ceramic capacitor, and there is no particular limitation on the type as long as it is a chip-type electronic component having a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to the main body portion, such as a thermistor or an inductor.

[0014] (Electronic component body) FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing the configuration of a multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X, which is an example of an electronic component body 10. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration when the multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X shown in FIG. 1 is cut along line II-II. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing the configuration when the multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X shown in FIG. 1 is cut along line III-III.

[0015] The multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X has a rectangular parallelepiped shape as a whole, and includes a main body portion 11 and a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to the main body portion 11. In the present embodiment, the plurality of external electrodes include a first external electrode 14a and a second external electrode 14b.

[0016] Here, the direction in which the dielectric layer 12 and the internal electrodes 13a and 13b, which will be described later, are laminated is defined as the lamination direction T of the multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X, the direction in which the pair of external electrodes 14a and 14b face each other is defined as the length direction L, and the direction orthogonal to both the length direction L and the lamination direction T is defined as the width direction W. Any two of the length direction L, the lamination direction T, and the width direction W are orthogonal to each other. Note that the lamination direction T may also be referred to as the thickness direction.

[0017] The size of the multilayer ceramic capacitor 10X is arbitrary. As a small size, for example, the dimensions in the length direction L, width direction W, and stacking direction T are 1.0 mm, 0.5 mm, and 0.5 mm respectively. As a large size, for example, they are 3.2 mm, 2.5 mm, and 2.5 mm.

[0018] The main body 11 has a rectangular parallelepiped shape and has a first end face 15a and a second end face 15b opposite to each other in the length direction L, a first main face 16a and a second main face 16b opposite to each other in the stacking direction T, and a first side face 17a and a second side face 17b opposite to each other in the width direction W. Note that the "rectangular parallelepiped shape" includes not only a rectangular parallelepiped but also a shape in which the corners and edges of the rectangular parallelepiped are rounded.

[0019] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the main body 11 includes a plurality of stacked dielectric layers 12 and a plurality of internal electrodes 13a, 13b. The internal electrodes 13a, 13b include a first internal electrode 13a and a second internal electrode 13b. More specifically, the main body 11 has a structure in which a plurality of the first internal electrodes 13a and the second internal electrodes 13b are alternately stacked via the dielectric layers 12 in the stacking direction T.

[0020] The first internal electrode 13a and the second internal electrode 13b contain, for example, a metal such as Ni, Ag, Pd, Au, Cu, Ti, or Cr, or an alloy having the above-mentioned metal as a main component. The first internal electrode 13a and the second internal electrode 13b preferably contain the same ceramic material as the dielectric ceramic contained in the dielectric layer 12 as a co-material.

[0021] The first internal electrode 13a is drawn out to the first end face 15a of the main body 11. Also, the second internal electrode 13b is drawn out to the second end face 15b of the main body 11.

[0022] In the present embodiment, the first external electrode 14a is provided on the entire first end face 15a of the main body portion 11 and is provided so as to wrap around from the first end face 15a to the first main face 16a, the second main face 16b, the first side face 17a, and the second side face 17b. The first external electrode 14a is electrically connected to the first internal electrode 13a exposed on the first end face 15a.

[0023] In the present embodiment, the second external electrode 14b is provided on the entire second end face 15b of the main body portion 11 and is provided so as to wrap around from the second end face 15b to the first main face 16a, the second main face 16b, the first side face 17a, and the second side face 17b. The second external electrode 14b is electrically connected to the second internal electrode 13b exposed on the second end face 15b.

[0024] As described above, since the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are each provided on the surface of the main body portion 11, they protrude outward with respect to the main body portion 11. In other words, the surfaces of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are located outside the surface of the main body portion 11.

[0025] The structures of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are arbitrary. In the present embodiment, the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b each include an underlayer electrode layer and a plating layer.

[0026] The underlying electrode layer contains, for example, metals such as Ni, Cu, Ag, Pd, Au, Ti, and Cr, or alloys containing these metals. The underlying electrode layer may be made of a common material that is the same as or similar to the material contained in the dielectric layer 12, or may contain glass. When the underlying electrode layer contains a common material or glass, the content ratio is preferably 30% by volume or more and 70% by volume or less of the entire external electrode. The underlying electrode layer can be formed by applying and baking a conductive paste on the surface of the main body 11. The application of the conductive paste can be performed by any method, for example, by dipping the main body 11 into the stored conductive paste.

[0027] The plating layer contains, for example, metals such as Cu, Ni, Ag, Pd, Ti, Cr, or Au, or alloys having these metals as the main component. The plating layer may be a single layer or multiple layers. When the plating layer is multiple layers, for example, a two-layer structure of a Ni plating layer and a Sn plating layer is used.

[0028] Note that the configurations of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are not limited to the above-described configurations, that is, the configurations composed of the underlying electrode layer and the plating layer. For example, the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b may be plating electrodes made of plating, or sputtering electrodes formed by a sputtering method. As the material of the sputtering electrode, for example, NiCr, NiCu, CuAgNi, etc. can be used. A plating layer may be formed on the sputtering electrode.

[0029] The thicknesses of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are, for example, 3 μm or more and 30 μm or less. The size of the flat portion of the surface of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b that faces the mounting substrate is, for example, 0.5 mm × 0.3 mm or more.

[0030] (Method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component) FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component in an embodiment.

[0031] In step S1, an electronic component body 10, which is a target for providing a spacer, is prepared. The electronic component body 10 can be manufactured by a known method.

[0032] In step S2 following step S1, the electronic component body 10 is held such that a plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b are exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11 (Fig. 5(a)). The electronic component body 10 can be held by any method. As an example, as shown in Fig. 5(a), the electronic component body 10 is adhered and held by an adhesive substrate 20 having an adhesive holding surface 20a. As described above, since the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b protrude outward with respect to the main body portion 11, the holding surface 20a of the adhesive substrate 20 adheres to the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b.

[0033] Here, the "same surface side of the main body portion 11" means one surface side of the surface of the main body portion 11, and in particular, the side where a spacer is provided on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b. Fig. 5(a) shows a state in which the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b are exposed on the first main surface 16a side of the main body portion 11 and the second main surface 16b side of the main body portion 11 is held by the adhesive substrate 20.

[0034] In addition to the adhesion described above, the electronic component body 10 can be held by a method using suction, magnetic force, or the like. The holding surface of the holding jig for holding the electronic component body 10 may be a flat surface or a rotatable roll surface. The holding jig having a roll surface can continuously supply the plurality of held electronic component bodies 10 onto a gravure plate described later.

[0035] The holding jig preferably holds a plurality of electronic component bodies 10. In that case, for all the electronic component bodies 10 held by the holding jig, it is necessary to make the distances from the holding jig to the surfaces where the spacers of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b are provided substantially the same. By the holding jig holding a plurality of electronic component bodies 10, it becomes possible to provide spacers to the plurality of electronic component bodies 10 at once, thus improving productivity.

[0036] When the holding jig holds a plurality of electronic component bodies 10, the plurality of electronic component bodies 10 to be held may be in an aligned state such as in a matrix, or may be in a randomly arranged state. When holding a plurality of electronic component bodies 10 by the holding jig, the holding jig may hold the plurality of electronic component bodies 10 at once, or may pick up and hold them one by one.

[0037] In step S3 following step S2, a metal paste 40 is supplied into the plurality of recesses 31 of the gravure plate 30 having the plurality of recesses 31 (FIG. 5(b)).

[0038] The gravure plate 30 is, for example, a flat plate having a flat surface or a roll plate having a roll surface. When the gravure plate 30 is a rectangular flat plate, the size is, for example, 10 mm × 10 mm or more and 1000 mm × 1000 mm or less. Also, when the gravure plate 30 is a roll plate, the width of the roll surface is, for example, 10 mm or more and 1000 mm or less. However, the gravure plate 30 may be other than a flat plate or a roll plate, and the size is not limited to the above size.

[0039] The gravure plate 30 is made of a material having at least a hard surface. The entire gravure plate 30 may be composed of a hard material. The hard material means, for example, a metal material having a tensile elastic modulus of 30 GPa or more, and is, for example, at least one of stainless steel, aluminum, iron, and steel. The gravure plate 30 has, for example, a rectangular shape in plan view. However, the shape of the gravure plate 30 in plan view is not limited to a rectangle.

[0040] The recess 31 has one of a groove shape and a box shape. The groove shape means a shape of a groove that has a pair of opposing side surfaces and extends in one direction. The groove may have a linear shape or a shape other than linear, for example, a shape that extends in one direction while meandering. The direction in which the groove extends is not particularly limited and can be any direction. The width of the groove is, for example, 50 μm or more and 100 μm or less.

[0041] The box shape means a shape of a box surrounded by a bottom surface and side surfaces. When viewed in a direction orthogonal to the bottom surface of the box, the shape of the box can be any shape such as a rectangle, a circle, an ellipse, a triangle, a hexagon, etc. Further, the intaglio plate 30 may have a plurality of recesses 31 having different shapes. When the shape of the box when viewed in a direction orthogonal to the bottom surface of the box constituting the recess 31 is a rectangle, the size of one side constituting the rectangle is, for example, 50 μm or more and 300 μm or less.

[0042] FIG. 6(a) is a plan view schematically showing an intaglio plate 30 having a plurality of groove-shaped recesses 31. In the example shown in FIG. 6(a), a plurality of groove-shaped recesses 31 are provided in the intaglio plate 30 in a stripe shape at a predetermined interval. The depth of the groove-shaped recess 31 can be any depth, but as an example, it is 10 μm or more and 300 μm or less.

[0043] FIG. 6(b) is a plan view schematically showing an intaglio plate 30 having a plurality of circular box-shaped recesses 31 in plan view. The depth of the recess 31 can be any depth, but as an example, it is 10 μm or more and 300 μm or less.

[0044] FIG. 6(c) is a plan view schematically showing an intaglio plate 30 having a plurality of oval box-shaped recesses 31 in plan view. The depth of the recess 31 can be any depth, but as an example, it is 10 μm or more and 300 μm or less.

[0045] In FIGS. 6(a) to 6(c), the electronic component body 10 is superimposed on the intaglio plate 30 so as to show the relationship between the relative sizes of the recess 31 of the intaglio plate 30 and the electronic component body 10. As will be described later, after supplying the metal paste 40 into the recess 31 of the intaglio plate 30, each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11 is brought into contact with the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30, thereby transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b. That is, when the electronic component body 10 is placed on the intaglio plate 30, the plurality of recesses 31 are provided in the intaglio plate 30 such that each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b overlaps with the plurality of recesses 31 (see FIGS. 6(a) to 6(c)).

[0046] The metal paste 40 is for forming a spacer, and for example, contains an intermetallic compound mainly composed of at least one high melting point metal selected from Cu and Ni and Sn as a low melting point metal. As an example, a metal paste 40 containing 31.5 wt% of Cu-10 wt% Ni powder with D50 of 5 μm, 58.5 wt% of solder powder with a composition of Sn-3 wt% Ag-0.5 wt% Cu with D50 of 5 μm, and 10 wt% of flux is used as the metal paste 40. The viscosity of the metal paste 40 is -1 at a shear rate of 0.1 s -1 is 100,000 mPa·s or more and 1,000,000 mPa·s or less, and at a shear rate of 1 s

[0047] The supply of the metal paste 40 onto the intaglio plate 30 can be performed by any method. After the metal paste 40 is supplied onto the intaglio plate 30, for example, as shown in FIG. 5(b), the squeegee 32 scrapes off the metal paste 40 on the intaglio plate 30. The scraping portion of the squeegee 32 is made of, for example, rubber having a hardness of 50 or more and 70 or less. However, the material of the scraping portion of the squeegee 32 is not limited to rubber and may be metal. Thereby, the metal paste 40 is supplied only into the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30. That is, the metal paste 40 is supplied up to the height position of the surface of the intaglio plate 30 in the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30, and the metal paste 40 is removed and does not exist at the position on the surface of the intaglio plate 30 where the recess 31 is not provided.

[0048] Note that the step of step S3 may be performed prior to the step of step S2.

[0049] In step S4 following step S3, the held electronic component body 10 is brought close to the intaglio plate 30, and the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30 is brought into contact with each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11, thereby transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 5 for explanation, first, as shown in FIG. 5(c), the electronic component body 10 held by the adhesive substrate 20 is brought close to the intaglio plate 30, and each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11 is brought into contact with the metal paste 40 supplied into the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30. The speed when bringing the main body portion 11 close to the intaglio plate 30 is, for example, 0.1 mm / s or more and 100 mm / s or less. Here, the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11 are brought into contact with the surface of the intaglio plate 30 and further pushed in by a predetermined distance. The predetermined distance is, for example, 0.3 mm. Thereby, the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30 comes into contact with the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11.

[0051] At this time, as shown in FIG. 5(c), since the surface of the main body portion 11 located inside the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b does not come into contact with the intaglio plate 30, the metal paste does not adhere to the surface of the main body portion 11. In particular, in this embodiment, since the intaglio plate 30 is made of a material having at least a hard surface, even when the electronic component body 10 comes into contact with the surface of the intaglio plate 30 and is further pushed in slightly, the surface of the intaglio plate 30 does not undergo elastic deformation or plastic deformation. Therefore, it is possible to further suppress the adhesion of the metal paste 40 to the surface of the main body portion 11.

[0052] Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 5(d), the main body portion 11 held by the adhesive substrate 20 is held at a distance of, for example, 0.3 mm from the surface of the intaglio plate 30. The holding time is, for example, 3 seconds or more and 30 seconds or less. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5(d), the metal paste 40 adhering to the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b spreads, and the metal paste 40 also adheres to positions on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b that do not face the recesses 31.

[0053] Note that the electronic component body 10 held by the adhesive substrate 20 may be swung in a direction parallel to the surface of the intaglio plate 30 while in contact with the surface of the intaglio plate 30 or while being slightly separated from the surface of the intaglio plate 30. By swinging the electronic component body 10, the spread of the metal paste 40 adhering to the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b can be promoted, and the metal paste 40 can be more effectively adhered to positions on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b that do not face the recesses 31.

[0054] Finally, as shown in FIG. 5(e), the electronic component body 10 held by the adhesive substrate 20 is lifted. The speed at which the electronic component body 10 is lifted is, for example, 0.1 mm / s or more and 100 mm / s or less. As a result, the metal paste 40 is transferred to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b.

[0055] Here, the step of transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b may be performed multiple times. By performing the step of transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b multiple times, as shown in FIG. 7, the thickness of the metal paste 40 attached to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b can be increased. Thereby, the height of the spacer provided on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b can be increased. That is, by performing the step of transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b multiple times, it becomes possible to adjust the height of the spacer provided on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b to an arbitrary height. When the step of transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b is performed multiple times, at least one of drying and curing may be performed on the transferred metal paste 40 each time the transfer is performed.

[0056] Note that when a spacer is provided on the external electrode of a substrate or a chip-type electronic component by a method such as screen printing, the shape may collapse due to the rheology of the metal paste or its own weight. However, in the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment, when the step of transferring the metal paste 40 to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b is performed multiple times, the weight of the newly attached metal paste 40 acts in the direction in which the spacer becomes higher, so that the shape collapse of the metal paste 40 can be suppressed.

[0057] In step S5 following step S4, at least one of drying and curing is performed on the metal paste 40 transferred to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b. Drying can be performed, for example, by a method such as blowing hot air or heating. The temperature of the hot air when blowing hot air and the heating temperature when heating are, for example, 100°C or higher and 300°C or lower. The curing of the metal paste 40 can be performed, for example, by methods such as irradiation with infrared rays, irradiation with ultraviolet rays, irradiation with gamma rays, or exposure to running water. The metal paste 40 on which at least one of drying and curing has been performed serves as a spacer. Note that since the spacer has a shape protruding further outward with respect to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b, it can also be called a projection electrode.

[0058] By the above-described steps, a chip-type electronic component in which spacers are provided on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b of the electronic component body 10 having the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b protruding outward with respect to the main body portion 11 is manufactured.

[0059] According to the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component in the present embodiment, the electronic component body 10 held such that the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b are exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion 11 is brought close to the gravure plate 30 in which the metal paste 40 is supplied into the recess 31, and each of the plurality of exposed external electrodes 14a and 14b is transferred by contacting the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31. Therefore, spacers can be accurately formed on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b. That is, when the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b protruding outward are brought into contact with the metal paste 40 in the recess 31 of the gravure plate 30, the metal paste 40 does not contact the main body portion 11 whose surface is located inside with respect to the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of the metal paste 40 to the main body portion 11.

[0060] In addition, since each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b is transferred by bringing it into contact with the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31, the amount of the metal paste 40 to be transferred can be stabilized as compared with the case of transferring by bringing it into contact with the metal paste in one recess 31. Thereby, variations in the quality of the formed spacers can be suppressed, and high-quality chip-type electronic components can be manufactured.

[0061] Further, since spacers are formed on the surfaces of the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b by the transfer of the metal paste 40, the productivity is high as compared with the dispensing method, and high-precision alignment such as screen printing using a mask is not required. Therefore, the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment has high productivity as compared with the conventional dispensing method and screen printing method.

[0062] Here, in the conventional mounting method in which a plurality of spacers are provided on the mounting substrate and the chip-type electronic component is disposed on the spacers, when the number of chip-type electronic components to be mounted is small, there are spacers provided in advance on the mounting substrate but not used.

[0063] On the other hand, in the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment, since spacers are directly provided on the plurality of external electrodes 14a and 14b of the chip-type electronic component to be mounted, unnecessary spacers do not occur.

[0064] Further, when a spacer is provided on the external electrode of the chip-type electronic component by the conventional screen printing method, the metal paste may adhere to the main body portion 11 due to misalignment. However, in the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment, as described above, it is possible to suppress the adhesion of the metal paste 40 to the main body portion 11.

[0065] In addition, when providing a spacer by the conventional screen printing method, the height of the spacer is uniquely determined by the thickness of the mask. For this reason, it is impossible to provide a spacer having a height lower than the thickness of the mask at the thinning limit, and it is impossible to provide a spacer having a height higher than the thickness of the mask at the thickening limit. Further, in the dispensing method, it is possible to adjust the height of the spacer by adjusting the viscosity of the metal paste, but it is difficult to adjust the viscosity of the metal paste to a desired viscosity.

[0066] On the other hand, in the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment, by adjusting the shape, size, depth of the recess 31, the interval between adjacent recesses 31, the number of times the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b are brought into contact with the metal paste 40 in the recess 31, etc., it is possible to easily adjust the height of the spacer to an arbitrary height.

[0067] Further, in the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment, as described above, each of the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14b is brought into contact with the metal paste 40 in the plurality of recesses 31 of the intaglio plate 30 and transferred by the stretching phenomenon of the metal paste 40, so that it is possible to form a spacer in a protruding shape rather than a planar shape. The protruding spacer can be formed by adjusting the paste rheology such as the pulling-up speed, the number of transfers, and the viscosity of the metal paste 40 during the transfer of the metal paste 40. The height of the protruding spacer is, for example, 30 μm or more and 120 μm or less. Further, when the spacer has a shape such as a rectangular prism or a pyramid, the length of one side of the portion where the spacer is in contact with the plurality of external electrodes 14a, 14 is, for example, 0.3 mm or more.

[0068] FIG. 8 is a diagram schematically showing an example of a chip-type electronic component 100 manufactured by the method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to the present embodiment. In the chip-type electronic component 100 shown in FIG. 8, the spacer 50 provided on the surfaces of the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b has a columnar shape. However, the spacer 50 can have an arbitrary shape within the range that can be formed by the above-described manufacturing method, such as a prism, a cone, or a pyramid. For example, the spacer 50 may have a shape such that the cross-sectional area when cut by a plane parallel to the first main surface 16a of the main body portion 11 gradually decreases as it moves away from the main body portion 11.

[0069] The spacer 50 can be provided for any purpose. For example, it may be for suppressing a sound called "buzzing" that occurs when a voltage is applied to the chip-type electronic component 100 mounted on a substrate, or for effectively using the space in the height direction orthogonal to the substrate.

[0070] FIG. 9 is a side view schematically showing a state in which the main body portion 11 is disposed at a high position away from the substrate 60 by the spacer 50 and another electronic component 70 is mounted below the main body portion 11. The chip-type electronic component 100 and another electronic component 70 are each mounted on the land electrode 61 on the substrate 60 via solder 62. By adopting such an arrangement, it becomes possible to mount more electronic components on the substrate 60.

[0071] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various applications and modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, although the first external electrode 14a of the electronic component body 10 has been described as being provided on the entire first end surface 15a of the main body portion 11 and extending around from the first end surface 15a to the first main surface 16a, the second main surface 16b, the first side surface 17a, and the second side surface 17b, it may be configured to be provided on the entire first end surface 15a and at least a part of one of the first main surface 16a and the second main surface 16b. The same applies to the second external electrode 14b.

[0072] Further, the first external electrode 14a may be provided only on a part of at least one of the first main surface 16a and the second main surface 16b. In that case, a via conductor electrically connected to the plurality of first internal electrodes 13a may be provided in the main body portion 11, and the via conductor and the first external electrode 14a may be electrically connected. The same applies to the second external electrode 14b.

[0073] Further, a configuration may be adopted in which the first external electrode 14a and the second external electrode 14b are not provided only on the surface of the main body portion 11 that faces the surface on which the spacer is provided.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0074] 10 Electronic component body 10X Multilayer ceramic capacitor 11 Main body portion 12 Dielectric layer 13a First internal electrode 13b Second internal electrode 14a First external electrode 14b Second external electrode 20 Adhesive substrate 30 Gravure 31 Concave portion 32 Squeegee 40 Metal paste 50 Spacer 60 Substrate 61 Land electrode 62 Solder 100 Chip-type electronic component

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component in which a spacer is provided on the surface of an external electrode of an electronic component body having a plurality of external electrodes protruding outward with respect to the main body portion, the step of preparing the electronic component body, the step of holding the electronic component body such that a plurality of the external electrodes are exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion, the step of supplying a metal paste onto an intaglio plate having a plurality of recesses and then scraping the metal paste on the intaglio plate with a squeegee to supply the metal paste into the plurality of recesses, the step of bringing the held electronic component body close to the intaglio plate and bringing each of the plurality of external electrodes exposed on the same surface side of the main body portion and protruding outward with respect to the main body portion into contact with the metal paste in the plurality of recesses of the intaglio plate, thereby transferring the metal paste to the plurality of external electrodes, A method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component, characterized by comprising the above.

2. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to claim 1, characterized in that the step of transferring the metal paste to the plurality of external electrodes is performed a plurality of times.

3. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the step of transferring the metal paste to the plurality of external electrodes includes a process of rocking the electronic component body after bringing each of the plurality of external electrodes into contact with the metal paste.

4. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the recess has one of a groove shape and a box shape.

5. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least the surface of the intaglio plate is made of a hard material.

6. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to claim 5, characterized in that the hard material is at least one of stainless steel, aluminum, iron, and steel.

7. The method for manufacturing a chip-type electronic component according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising a step of performing at least one of drying and curing on the metal paste transferred to the external electrode.

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