Multilayer Ceramic Component External Electrode Glass Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multilayer ceramic electronic components face challenges in achieving both small size and large capacity while maintaining adequate chip air-tightness, as excessive or insufficient glass content in external electrode pastes can lead to defective plating and reduced reliability, especially with thinner external electrodes.
Innovation Solution
The use of a ceramic electronic component with external electrodes composed of a conductive metal and glass, where the glass content ranges from 0.3 to 2.0 parts by weight relative to the conductive metal, and the glass is uniformly distributed, ensuring an area of 35% to 80% in the central part of the electrodes, enhancing air-tightness and preventing connectivity defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the content of glass in the external electrode paste is increased to improve chip air-tightness, then air-tightness is improved, but the glass may be eluted from the surface to result in defective plating
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the glass content parameter in the external electrode paste to a specific range (3-15 wt%) to simultaneously achieve good air-tightness and prevent glass elution that would cause defective plating. This parameter optimization resolves the contradiction by finding the optimal balance point.
Solution Approach 2:
The external electrode paste is formulated as a composite material containing conductive metal particles (such as copper, nickel, or silver), glass powder, and organic vehicle. The synergistic combination of these materials allows the glass to provide air-tightness while the conductive metal maintains plating quality, resolving the contradiction between air-tightness and plating quality.
2Volume of moving object
If the external electrode is made thinner to reduce component size, then component size is reduced, but it becomes difficult to implement desired compactness and corner coverage deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different material compositions to different regions of the external electrode. The paste formulation with optimized glass content (3-15 wt%) and conductive metal particles provides enhanced flow and filling characteristics specifically at corner regions, ensuring good coverage and compactness even when the overall electrode thickness is reduced.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes particle size parameters of the conductive metal particles (average diameter 0.5-5 μm) and glass powder in the paste to improve flowability and filling characteristics. This allows thinner electrodes to achieve desired compactness and corner coverage that would otherwise require thicker electrodes.
3Volume of moving object
If the external electrode is made thinner to achieve small size, then component size is reduced, but the possibility of defective product increases due to shortage or excess of glass in terms of high temperature behavior characteristics
Solution Approach 1:
The patent precisely controls the glass content parameter (3-15 wt%) and the particle size distribution of conductive metal particles (0.5-5 μm average diameter) to ensure proper high-temperature behavior. This optimization prevents both glass shortage and excess, maintaining reliability in thin electrodes at high temperatures.
Solution Approach 2:
The external electrode paste is designed as a composite material system where glass powder and conductive metal particles work synergistically. The glass provides high-temperature stability and air-tightness, while the conductive metal ensures electrical conductivity and structural integrity, allowing thin electrodes to maintain reliability at elevated temperatures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration improves high-temperature insulation resistance and reliability by ensuring excellent air-tightness and preventing plating solution infiltration, while maintaining compactness and connectivity between internal and external electrodes.
Implementation Method 1
use glass as an auxiliary material to fill voids when the metal is sintered to be contracted and provide bonding force between an external electrode and the chip
Implementation Method 2
when the metal is sintered to be contracted
Data Source
AI summary
There are provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component, and a method of fabricating the same. The multilayer ceramic electronic component includes: a ceramic main body including a dielectric layer; first and second internal electrodes disposed to face each other within the ceramic main body; and a first external electrode and a second external electrode, wherein the first and second external electrodes include a conductive metal and glass, and when at least one of the first and second external electrodes is divided into three equal parts in a thickness direction, an area of the glass in a central part thereof is 35% to 80% of the total area of the central part. A multilayer ceramic electronic component having improved reliability may be implemented by enhancing chip air-tightness.