Analysis of insulation resistance degradation in Ni-BaTiO_3 multilayer ceramic capacitors under highly accelerated life test

摘要

The degradation mechanism of electrical breakdown in Ni-BaTiO3 multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) was studied by visualizing degraded areas in early failure and wear-out failure modes. The visualization was achieved by the fabrication of electrically degraded MLCCs just before electrical breakdown and by detection of the degraded area by infrared-optical-beam-induced resistance change (IR-OBIRCH) analysis. In the case of our prototype MLCCs, a thinner dielectric layer caused early failure and microstructural abnormalities in the dielectric layer caused wear-out failure. Such a visualization method directly demonstrates the causes of electrical breakdown in MLCCs. (C) 2017 The Japan Society of Applied Physics