Zhibin Tian

Electrical and reliability characteristics of Mn-doped nano BaTiO3-based ceramics for ultrathin multilayer ceramic capacitor application

Nano BaTiO3-based dielectric ceramics were prepared by chemical coating approach, which are promising for ultrathin multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) applications. The doping effects of Mn element on the microstructures and dielectric properties of the ceramics were investigated. The degradation test and impedance spectroscopy were employed to study the resistance degradation and the conduction mechanism of Mn-doped nano-BaTiO3 ceramic samples. It has been found that the reliability characteristics greatly depended on the Mn-doped content. Moreover, the BaTiO3 ceramic with grain size in nanoscale is more sensitive to the Mn-doped content than that in sub-micron scale. The addition of 0.3 mol. % Mn is beneficial for improving the reliability of the nano BaTiO3-based ceramics, which is an important parameter for MLCC applications. However, further increasing the addition amount will deteriorate the performance of the ceramic samples.

Fabrication of BaTiO3-Based Dielectrics for Ultrathin-Layer Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Application by a Modified Coating Approach

The development of multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) with base metal electrode (BME) requires precise controlling of the microstructure in a very thin dielectric layer (<1 µm). In this paper, a modified coating approach for high coverage of BaTiO3 powder for further MLCC application has been developed. The well dispersed and coated BaTiO3 powders are prepared and the relative mechanism has been discussed. Furthermore, the ultrafine grained X7R dielectric ceramics were produced by both conventional mixing and modified coating methods. Compared with the conventional mixing method, the ceramics prepared by the coating approach exhibited better TCC (the temperature coefficient of capacitance) performance, with dielectric constant over 2000 and grain size below 150 nm. In addition, it is found through the coating method the content of additives can be reduced to a relatively smaller amount than that required in conventional mixing method.

Interfacial diffusion behavior in Ni-BaTiO 3 MLCCs with ultra-thin active layers

The interfacial structure and diffusion behavior between the dielectric layers (BaTiO3) and internal electrode layers (Ni) in X5R-type multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs, from −55°C to 85°C, at a temperature capacitance coefficient within ±15%) with ultra-thin active layers (T = 1–3 µm) have been investigated by several microstructural techniques (SEM/TEM/HRTEM) with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS). In the MLCC samples with different active layer thicknesses (1–3 µm), weak interfacial diffusion was observed between BaTiO3 and Ni. It was also found that the diffusion capability of Ni into the BaTiO3 layer was stronger than that of BaTiO3 to the Ni electrode, which indicated that the diffusion of Ni was the dominant factor for the interfacial diffusion behavior in the ultra-thin layered MLCCs. The mechanism of Ni diffusion is discussed in this study as well.