Ceramic-electrode interfaces in cofired electroceramic multilayer components

In state-of-the-art decoupling multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), the design is a balance of long-term stability of leakage current and high volumetric efficiency of capacitance. With thinner dielectric layers to enhance volumetric efficiency, interfacial reactions involving the oxidation of residual carbon at the electrode now become very important and can indirectly limit the continuity and roughness of electrodes. Novel non-isothermal heating processes are of interest to control the interface and also control the dielectric grain structure to provide better electrical performance. With reliability depending on a few grain boundaries, each boundary has to be highly effective in limiting vacancy migration. To aid in producing such high levels of perfection, we need to develop new characterization techniques that can quickly identify the origins of failure sites that depart from the ideal microstructure.