What are chip multilayer ceramic capacitors?

What is a chip multilayer ceramic capacitor? What is its function? For test engineers, they screen various devices every day, and different components have different parameters and characteristics. This article will help you understand the manufacturing, market situation, and development trends of chip multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC)~

Chip multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) are made of ceramic dielectric diaphragms with printed electrodes (internal electrodes) stacked in a staggered manner. They are sintered at high temperatures to form a ceramic chip, and then metal layers are sealed on both ends of the chip. (external electrode), thus forming a monolithic-like structure, so it is also called a monolithic capacitor. MLCC is one of the main chip components used in electronic machines. It was born in the 1960s and was first successfully developed by American companies. Later, it was rapidly developed and industrialized by Japanese companies such as Murata, TDK, and Taiyo Yuden. MLCC is the largest and fastest growing type of chip component in the world.

MLCC has large capacity, low equivalent resistance, excellent noise absorption, good pulse current resistance, small size, high insulation resistance, good impedance temperature characteristics and frequency characteristics; and has good self-sealing characteristics, which can It effectively prevents the internal electrode from getting damp and contaminated, and significantly increases the arcing voltage and breakdown voltage. As a basic electronic component, MLCC is widely used in information, military industry, mobile communications, electronic appliances, aviation, oil exploration and other industries.

Manufacturing of MLCC

The manufacturing of MLCC uses barium titanate-based ceramics as the medium. The pre-prepared ceramic slurry is made into a ceramic dielectric film with a thickness of less than 10 μm by casting. Then the internal electrode is printed on the dielectric film and the printed The ceramic dielectric diaphragms of the internal electrode are alternately laminated and hot-pressed to form multiple capacitors connected in parallel. They are sintered at high temperature to form an undivided integral chip, and then the external electrode slurry is applied to the end of the chip to make it consistent with the internal electrode. A good electrical connection is formed, and then restored by reheating to form the two poles of the chip ceramic capacitor.

A typical manufacturing process flow of MLCC

Market overview of MLCC

MLCC has become the main ceramic capacitor due to its large capacity, long life, high temperature and high pressure resistance, small size, high quality and low price, accounting for approximately 93% of the ceramic capacitor market.

At present, according to the market classification of MLCC products, its main applications are:

Military industry

As a basic electronic component, military MLCC is increasingly used in aviation, aerospace, military mobile communication equipment, pocket military computers, weapon warhead control and military signal monitoring, radar, artillery fuzes, ships, weapon systems and other military electronic equipment. .

Industrial

The industrial capacitor market mainly includes: system communication equipment, industrial control equipment, medical electronic equipment, automotive electronics, precision instruments, oil exploration equipment, etc. Industrial equipment is developing towards mechatronics and intelligence, and the proportion of informatization applications in electronic control, data analysis, and interface display is constantly increasing, which will provide a relatively broad market prospect for high-reliability MLCC products for industrial use.

Consumer

The consumer market includes general consumer products and high-end consumer products. The former includes electronic products such as laptops, televisions, telephones, ordinary mobile phones, and ordinary digital cameras; the latter includes professional recording equipment, professional video equipment, high-end smartphones, etc. High-end electronic products. Compared with the demand for military and industrial MLCC products, the market demand for consumer products is the largest.

At present, the main manufacturers of MLCC are: KEMET of the United States; Murata, Kyocera, Maruwa, and TDK of Japan; Samsung of South Korea; Yageo, Huaxinke, and Hesendang of Taiwan; and the famous ones in mainland China are Yuyang and Fenghua Hi-Tech. , three rings.

Development Trend of MLCC

miniaturization

Miniaturization can bring a lot of added value to equipment. In the development process of electronic components, miniaturization is an eternal trend. As one of the world's largest and fastest growing chip components, MLCC is no exception. Laptops, mobile phones, etc. that can be seen everywhere in daily life are becoming smaller and lighter. In order to cater to the increasingly lighter characteristics of these electronic devices, MLCC products must also become smaller and smaller in size. Small.

high capacity

In recent years, the notebook computer and mobile phone markets have continued to expand. The data transmission speed of digital products has gradually increased, and the memory capacity and function types have continued to increase. The demand for high-capacity MLCCs has expanded sharply.

High reliability

With the rapid development of science and technology, the areas explored by humans are becoming wider and wider, and the environment in some of these areas is getting worse and worse, and the requirements for electronic products are becoming more and more demanding. Under such conditions, the performance of MLCC products Also required to achieve greater stability.

Environmental protection

As people's living standards get higher and higher, the improvement of the environment has attracted more and more attention. Some MLCC products contain lead. Lead is highly volatile and highly destructive to the human body and the environment. People are actively Develop environmentally friendly products to replace lead-based materials. The above are some uses of chip multilayer ceramic capacitors. I hope they can help you.