Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Corner Electrodes for Smaller Mounting Area
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Solution Overview
Problem
The miniaturization of electronic devices is limited by the mounting requirements of multilayer ceramic capacitors, which necessitate a certain spacing to prevent short-circuiting, restricting the extent to which these components can be miniaturized.
Innovation Solution
The design of multilayer ceramic capacitors with a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape and external electrodes forming triangular pyramids allows for reduced mounting area by integrating multiple unit capacitors, enabling closer placement without short-circuiting, utilizing a lamination direction, width direction, and length direction configuration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If multilayer ceramic capacitors are miniaturized, then the component size is reduced, but the mounting area cannot be reduced further due to spacing requirements between adjacent capacitors
Solution Approach 1:
The external electrodes extend onto the side surfaces and end surfaces of the multilayer assembly, utilizing three-dimensional space rather than being confined to two-dimensional mounting surfaces. This allows the electrodes to form triangular pyramid structures that reduce the required mounting land area while maintaining electrical connection functionality
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple unit capacitors are integrated into a single multilayer assembly with shared external electrodes at the corners. The external electrodes serve multiple unit capacitors simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate mounting lands for each capacitor and reducing the overall mounting area
2Area of stationary object
If spacing between mounting lands is reduced to enable closer placement, then the mounting area is reduced, but short-circuiting between adjacent capacitors occurs
Solution Approach 1:
By extending external electrodes onto side surfaces and end surfaces to form triangular pyramid structures, the patent creates three-dimensional electrode configurations that reduce the horizontal spacing requirements between adjacent capacitors while maintaining adequate electrical isolation through the vertical dimension
Solution Approach 2:
The multilayer assembly is divided into multiple unit capacitors with shared external electrodes. Each unit capacitor is electrically isolated through internal dielectric layers and electrode configurations, allowing close placement of assemblies without short-circuiting while reducing overall mounting area
Data Source
AI summary
A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer assembly including unit multilayer bodies each including internal electrode layers and internal dielectric layers, and external electrodes at corners of the multilayer assembly. Each of the unit multilayer bodies and two of the external electrodes define a unit capacitor, and the multilayer ceramic capacitor includes multiple unit capacitors. For the multilayer assembly, two surfaces opposite to each other in a lamination direction are main surfaces, two surfaces opposite to each other in a width direction are side surfaces, and two surfaces opposite to each other in a length direction are end surfaces, and each external electrode includes an end surface portion, a side surface portion, and a main surface portion, which define three side surfaces of a triangular pyramid with one of the corners being an apex and each is substantially triangular.