Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture – Methods – Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-22
2002-11-05
Crispino, Richard (Department: 1734)
Adhesive bonding and miscellaneous chemical manufacture
Methods
Surface bonding and/or assembly therefor
C156S089160, C427S079000, C427S096400, C427S126200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06475317
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing electronic components of laminated ceramics such as laminated ceramic capacitors, laminated inductors, multi-layer circuit boards and laminated piezoelectric members. The present invention particularly relates to a method for manufacturing electronic components of laminated ceramics comprising the processes of laminating a plurality of ceramic green sheets on which films of inner circuit elements such as conductive films having a given thickness are partially formed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A plurality of ceramic green sheets are prepared and laminated for manufacturing electronic components of laminated ceramics such as laminated ceramic capacitors. Films of inner circuit elements such as conductor films and resistor films for constructing capacitors, resistors, inductors, varistors and filters are formed on a specified green sheet depending on the desired functions of the electronic component of laminated ceramics.
Thin layer and multi-layer ceramic green sheets have been developed in order to make the electronic component of laminated ceramics have a small size and have high performance. For example, the laminated ceramic capacitor may be small size while having a large capacitance by laminating a plurality of the thin ceramic green sheets. However, the thickness of the film of inner circuit elements greatly influences the performance of the ceramic components as the green sheet is made thinner and larger numbers of the ceramic green sheets are laminated, causing the following problems.
Step heights are accumulated by the difference of thickness between the portions where the film of inner circuit elements is formed and not formed, when the film of inner circuit elements is formed on the ceramic green sheets followed by laminating the sheets. Therefore, the pressure used to press the laminate obtained by laminating the ceramic green sheet is not uniformly applied along the direction of the principal faces of the ceramic green sheets, sometimes causing delamination of the laminate. Otherwise, the surface of the laminate partially expands to form non-plane surface that generates cracks in the firing process thereafter.
For solving these and other problems, it is proposed to eliminate the steps on the ceramic green sheets by applying the ceramic paste by screen printing, photogravure printing or relief printing on the area of the ceramic green sheet where no films of inner circuit elements are formed.
The method for manufacturing the ceramic capacitor will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.
1
. Ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
are prepared at first as shown by the processes (
1
A) and (
1
B) in FIG.
1
.
Inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
as films of inner circuit elements are formed on the principal faces of the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
as shown by the processes (
2
A) and (
2
B) in FIG.
1
. These inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
have given thicknesses, respectively, thereby steps
3
a
and
3
b
appear due to the thickness of each film.
In the process for forming the inner electrode
13
(FIG.
4
B), the inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
are formed so as to merely reach one terminal edge along the longitudinal direction located at the end along the longitudinal direction of respective rectangular principal faces of the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
, and not to reach the two terminal edges located at the ends along the transverse direction and the other terminal edges located at the end along the longitudinal direction.
As shown by the processes (
3
A) and (
3
B) in
FIG. 1
, ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
are applied by screen printing, photogravure printing or relief printing on the area of the principal faces of the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
where no inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
are formed, thus substantially eliminating the steps
3
a
and
3
b
due to the inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
as shown by the processes (
2
A) and (
2
B) in FIG.
1
.
The ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
should have a viscosity of given value or more for maintaining resolution of the ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
applied by printing higher than a prescribed level in the printing processes of the ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
. Accordingly, the content of solvents in the ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
is usually adjusted to 35% by weight or less.
The ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
shown by the processes (
3
A) and (
3
B) in
FIG. 1
, respectively, are alternately laminated. This means that the terminal edges at the ends along the longitudinal direction where the inner electrode
2
a
or
2
b
reach, and the terminal edges at the ends along the longitudinal direction where the inner electrode
2
a
or
2
b
do not reach, are alternately arranged along the direction of lamination. A laminate
5
as shown by the process (
4
) in
FIG. 1
is obtained by laminating the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b.
The laminate
5
is fired after pressing. A desired laminated ceramic capacitor is completed by forming auxiliary circuits at both ends of the laminate
5
.
Since the steps
3
a
and
3
b
due to the thicknesses of the inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
can be substantially eliminated by the methods as described above, the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
can be laminated without being substantially affected by the thicknesses of the ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
. Accordingly, the thin ceramic green sheets
1
a
and
1
b
can be laminated while allowing delamination and cracks in the laminate
5
to be scarcely generated.
A method for obtaining one laminate
5
is illustrated in FIG.
1
. However, each process shown in
FIG. 1
is usually carried out so as to manufacture a mother laminate for yielding a number of laminates
5
, in order to efficiently obtain a plurality of laminates
5
. The mother laminate is cut to isolate individual laminates
5
from it by executing each process shown in FIG.
1
. For this purpose, each ceramic green sheet
1
a
and
1
b
shown in
FIG. 1
is prepared as a mother sheet having a large dimension. The inner electrodes
2
a
and
2
b
are formed, and the ceramic pastes
4
a
and
4
b
are applied on this mother sheet, followed by laminating the mother green sheets.
However, the method for eliminating the steps on the ceramic green sheets as hitherto proposed involves the following problems.
FIG. 2
shows an extended cross section of a part of the ceramic green sheet
1
as a mother sheet, and a part of the inner electrode
2
formed on the principal face of the green sheet as described above. The ceramic paste
4
inadequately applied on the principal face of the ceramic green sheet
1
is also illustrated, although the object of applying the ceramic paste has been to substantially eliminate the steps due to the thickness of the inner electrode
2
.
While the ceramic paste
4
is applied by screen printing, photogravure printing or relief printing as described above, the positional accuracy of these printing methods is about 30 to 200 &mgr;m. Consequently, a part of the ceramic paste
4
overflows on the inner electrode
2
when the printing position has shifted, thereby enhancing the step rather than demising it.
For avoiding the foregoing problems from occurring, it is proposed to designed the printing pattern of the ceramic paste
4
so as to form a gap
6
(
FIG. 3
) with a space of, for example, several tens microns between the ceramic paste
4
and the inner electrode
2
, thereby allowing the ceramic paste
4
to hardly overflow on the inner electrode
2
even when the printing position has been a little shifted. However, this method also involves some problems that the terminal edge of the inner electrode
2
is apt to be distorted by the presence of the gap
6
, or that structural defects such as voids are liable to be generated in the laminate after firing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufactur
Baba Hiroyuki
Hosokawa Takao
Kato Koji
Yoneda Yasunobu
Crispino Richard
Dickstein , Shapiro, Morin & Oshinsky, LLP
Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Shortsle Kevin P.
LandOfFree
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