JPH1027725A - Method and apparatus for manufacturing multilayer ceramic electronic component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable multilayer ceramic electronic parts to vary less in characteristics and to deviate less from specifications when the electronic parts are formed by stacking many layers by a method wherein a process in which ceramic green sheets are stacked covering an ink pattern transferred onto each ceramic groove sheet provided with a built-in inner electrode is repeatedly carried out prescribed times, the stack is cut into parts, the parts are burned, and then outer electrodes are provided to each part. SOLUTION: An ink pattern 5 is transferred onto a ceramic green sheet stack 10 provided with one or more built-in inner electrodes with a gravure 4 which rotates in a direction of arrow 6, whereby a printed ink pattern 11 is formed. The ceramic green sheet stack 10 where the printed ink pattern 11 is provided in transferred in a direction of arrow 12 and sent to an ink pattern drying process and a ceramic green sheet stacking process. That is, a process where a prescribed number of ceramic green sheets are placed one on another covering an ink pattern, a ceramic green sheet stack is cut into chips of prescribed shape, the chips are burned, and outer electrodes are provided to the chips respectively.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component such as a multilayer ceramic capacitor and a multilayer piezoelectric element used in various electronic devices.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, multilayer ceramic electronic components such as multilayer ceramic capacitors have been required to increase the number of laminated internal electrodes in order to achieve higher capacity and higher performance. FIG.
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a partial cross section of the multilayer ceramic capacitor.
In FIG. 11, 1 is an internal electrode, 2 is an external electrode, and 3 is a dielectric layer. The dielectric layer 3 functions as a capacitor by being sandwiched between the plurality of internal electrodes 1. The production of the multilayer ceramic capacitor is performed by laminating a predetermined number of ceramic green sheets on which electrodes are printed, cutting, firing, and forming external electrodes. For this reason, the number of printing steps increases with the increase in the number of layers, and the manufacturing cost is increased.

[0003] In order to reduce the printing cost of the internal electrode 1, a number of methods including screen printing have been studied. Recently, as a printing method replacing screen printing, Japanese Patent Publication No. 5-25381 and
No. 8307 proposes a gravure printing method.
In this method, an electrode serving as an internal electrode 1 is printed on a ceramic raw sheet by a gravure printing method, and this is thermally transferred onto a ceramic raw sheet laminate, and a predetermined number of the electrodes are laminated.

In this method, since the internal electrodes 1 are gravure printed on the surface of the ceramic green sheet, the pattern accuracy is high. However, in a multilayer ceramic capacitor, a plurality of ceramic raw sheets on which the internal electrodes 1 are printed (actually, 100 or more) are laminated, and at this time, misalignment of the internal electrodes 1 in each lamination is likely to occur. The misalignment of the internal electrodes 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional perspective view of the multilayer ceramic capacitor in which the internal electrodes 1 have been misaligned. FIG. 12 shows the case where the internal electrodes 1 are shifted at random.
If the internal electrode 1 is displaced as shown in FIG. 12, the characteristics of the product will vary, increasing the cost. Also, the design rules are loosened and productivity is reduced.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems and proposes a high-precision printing and laminating method. The present invention is intended to prevent variations in the characteristics of products at the time of high lamination and deviation from standard values. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component capable of reducing the cost by reducing the number.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve this object, a method of manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to the present invention is directed to a surface of a ceramic green sheet laminate having at least one internal electrode fixed in a predetermined position. After transferring the ink pattern from the gravure plate to, after repeating a predetermined number of times to laminate the ceramic raw sheet so as to cover this ink pattern, cutting the ceramic raw sheet laminate into a predetermined shape,
This is a method of firing and forming external electrodes.

According to this method, the printing accuracy of the internal electrode,
The lamination position accuracy can be improved, the variation in capacitance value as a product and the deviation from the standard value can be reduced, and a more inexpensive multilayer ceramic electronic component can be provided.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS According to the first aspect of the present invention, an ink pattern is transferred from a gravure plate onto the surface of a ceramic green sheet laminate having at least one internal electrode fixed in a predetermined position. Then, after repeating the ceramic green sheet so as to cover the ink pattern a predetermined number of times, the ceramic green sheet laminate is cut into a predetermined shape, fired, and external electrodes are formed. This has the effect of obtaining a multilayer ceramic electronic component having stable characteristics without deviation.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, an ink pattern is transferred from a gravure plate via a cylindrical rubber transfer member to a surface of a ceramic green sheet laminate having at least one layer of internal electrodes fixed at a predetermined position. Thereafter, laminating the ceramic green sheet so as to cover the ink pattern is repeated a predetermined number of times, and then the ceramic green sheet laminate is cut into a predetermined shape, fired, and external electrodes are formed. It has the effect of being able to print with precision.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an alignment mechanism for positioning a ceramic green sheet laminate at the same position,
A portion for conveying the ceramic raw sheet laminate to the alignment mechanism, a gravure plate for gravure printing a predetermined electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate, and a gravure plate for printing the electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate. This is a laminated ceramic comprising a portion where ceramic raw sheets are laminated, and has an effect that an internal electrode can be formed without displacement and a product having stable characteristics can be produced.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an alignment mechanism for always positioning a pallet plate to which a ceramic raw sheet laminate is fixed at the same position, a portion for conveying the ceramic raw sheet laminate to the alignment mechanism, Manufacture of a multilayer ceramic electronic component comprising a portion for gravure printing a predetermined electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate and a portion for laminating a ceramic raw sheet on the printed electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate It is a device and has the effect of making it easy to switch types.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a manufacturing method in which at least one of a gravure plate, a ceramic raw sheet laminate, a pallet plate, and a cylindrical rubber transfer member moves a predetermined distance to shift a plurality of internal electrodes by a predetermined distance. There is an effect that the deformation of the gravure plate is absorbed and printing of the internal electrode can be performed stably.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. (Embodiment 1) Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 shows an example of an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to the first embodiment, and illustrates a particularly important printing / stacking step. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 4 denotes a gravure plate, 5 denotes an ink pattern formed on the surface of the gravure plate 4, and an arrow 6 denotes a direction in which the gravure plate 4 rotates. Reference numeral 7 denotes a ceramic raw sheet laminate, in which one or more layers of internal electrodes are incorporated (in FIG. 1, the transport system of the internal electrodes and the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7 is omitted). Reference numeral 8 denotes an arrow in the direction in which the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7 is fed, and the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7 is fed in the direction of arrow 8, is positioned and fixed by a plurality of pins 9, and is fixed. Becomes The ink pattern 5 is transferred onto the fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10 by the gravure plate 4 rotating in the direction of the arrow 6 to form a printed ink pattern 11. Printed ink pattern 11
Are formed by the arrow 12
, And proceeds to the drying process of the ink pattern 11 and the lamination process of the ceramic raw sheet (omitted in FIG. 1).

As described above, a mechanical alignment mechanism using the pins 9 is provided, and printing is performed with high accuracy using the gravure plate 4 on the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 fixed with high accuracy by the alignment mechanism. It can be carried out. FIG.
1. The ceramic raw sheet is laminated on the ink pattern 11 printed in the step of the above, and by returning to the step of FIG. 1 again, the multiple layers of the ink pattern 11 can be laminated with high precision without the displacement as shown in FIG. Can be performed. Gravure version 4
By controlling the rotation of, you can always print in the same position. By using such a manufacturing apparatus, a multilayer ceramic electronic component can be manufactured with high accuracy and high speed.

(Embodiment 2) A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG.
2A to 2D show an example of a method for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component of the second embodiment.

FIG. 2A shows a ceramic raw sheet laminate 7.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view in which one or more layers of internal electrodes 1 are formed. Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, the ceramic green sheet laminate 7 is positioned and fixed by the pins 9 to form a fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10. The ink pattern 5 formed on the surface of the gravure plate 4 is transferred as a printed ink pattern 11 on the fixed ceramic raw sheet laminate 10. In the step of FIG. 2C, the printed ink pattern 11 is dried. In FIG. 2D, reference numeral 13 denotes a raw ceramic sheet, and the ink pattern 1 printed in the direction of the arrow 12 is shown.
1 are covered. The ink pattern 11 thus printed is covered with the ceramic raw sheet 13 to become the internal electrode 1.

By repeating the steps shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D a plurality of times (for example, 100 times or more), the internal electrodes 1 can always be formed at the same position, and almost no lamination displacement occurs.

This will be described in more detail. The multilayer ceramic electronic component was a multilayer ceramic capacitor as an example, and was manufactured using the manufacturing apparatus of the first embodiment. First, as an electrode material, Pd powder having a particle size of 0.3 μm was dispersed in ethyl cellulose resin and a solvent using a ball mill to form an ink. The gravure plate 4 was produced by polishing a copper plate with high precision, etching an electrode pattern, and plating it with Cr. This ink was dropped on the gravure plate 4, and a predetermined ink pattern 5 was formed using a doctor blade (not shown in FIGS. 1 and 2). Then, the ink pattern 5 was transferred onto the fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10 to form a printed ink pattern 11.

This will be described with reference to FIG. The ceramic green sheet laminate 7 used had a thickness of 200 μm. After the ceramic green sheet laminate 7 was positioned at a predetermined position by the pins 9, the ink pattern 5 was transferred from the gravure plate 4. Then, after drying as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2D, a ceramic green sheet 13 having a thickness of 10 μm was laminated so as to cover the ink pattern 11 printed on the ceramic green sheet laminate 7. In this way, a ceramic green sheet laminate 7 having one or more layers of internal electrodes 1 formed therein corresponding to FIG. This step was repeated a plurality of times, and 100 internal electrodes 1 were laminated.
Thereafter, the ceramic green sheet laminate 10 was cut into a predetermined shape, fired, and the external electrodes 2 were formed to produce a multilayer ceramic capacitor (hereinafter, referred to as the present invention product 1).

Next, for comparison, the same 1
An ink pattern was printed on a 0-μm-thick ceramic green sheet (total length: 1000 m) in a continuous rotary printing using a gravure printing method. The ink pattern was read by a CCD camera to recognize the image, and 100 layers were automatically laminated. Then, similarly, it was cut into a predetermined shape, fired, and formed with external electrodes to obtain a multilayer ceramic capacitor (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Product 1).

A comparison of the characteristics of each of 10,000 products between the product 1 of the present invention and the conventional product 1 shows that the variation in capacity of the product of the present invention is 5%,
The variation in capacity of the conventional product was 14%. Therefore, when the cross section of each product was observed, the product 1 of the present invention had 100 layers of internal electrodes stacked with high precision with a displacement of 2 μm or less, but in the conventional product, the internal electrodes were randomly arranged as shown in FIG. The displacement was a maximum of 30 μm.

The cause of the variation in the characteristics was analyzed using a multilayer ceramic capacitor of 1005 size (1.0 mm × 0.5 mm) as an example. In the case of the 1005 size, the width of the internal electrode 1 is about 300 μm. Here, the internal electrode 1 is ± 30μ
When the distance is shifted by m, the capacity tolerance is shifted up to ± 10%. The product standard is that the capacitance temperature characteristic is Hi-k type B characteristic (K type), the capacitance tolerance is ± 10%, and the capacitance temperature characteristic is T
In the case of the C type, the capacitance tolerance is ± 5% or less, and ± 30%.
A displacement of μm greatly reduces product yield.

In the method used in the conventional product 1, since the gravure printing is performed on a ceramic raw sheet having a low strength, it is necessary to use a thick base film having a high strength. However, since a high-strength base film is costly, a resin film having a thickness of 75 μm or less is generally used as a base film, and a ceramic green sheet formed thereon has a poor mechanical strength. It is difficult to align film-like objects with high precision,
Even when a higher-precision image recognition device is used, the positioning accuracy is 20% due to the pattern recognition accuracy of the CCD camera.
It is difficult to reduce the size to μm to 30 μm or less. Thus 10
When 0 or more layers are laminated (especially in a multilayer ceramic capacitor with high precision and high capacity such as B characteristics), each layer has a maximum of ± 30.
μm, it is considered that the capacitance value variation as a product and the deviation from the standard value occurred.

On the other hand, in the case of the product 1 of the present invention, a high lamination accuracy was obtained because the lamination was performed directly and mechanically on the ceramic green sheet laminate fixed with high precision. In the case of the manufacturing apparatus used for the product 1 of the present invention, the time and equipment cost required for the positioning are 1/10 or less of the conventional product 1, so that the price of the product can be further reduced.

(Embodiment 3) A third embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIGS. 3 to 5 are perspective views showing another example of the method for manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component of the third embodiment. The difference from the first embodiment is that the gravure plate is cylindrical or plate-shaped. It is. The gravure plate 4 in the third embodiment is plate-shaped, and can be formed by a method of machining with a diamond needle or the etching method described in the second embodiment.

This will be described in more detail. As a print medium, the same ceramic green sheet laminate as in FIG. 2 was used with a size of 20 cm square. The gravure plate 4 used was a 30 cm square machine machined on a 1 mm thick copper plate and Cr plated on the surface. The same Pd ink was used. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, the gravure plate 4 on which the ink pattern 5 was formed was mechanically set so as to face the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 on which the ink pattern 5 was fixed. Next, as shown in FIG. 4, the gravure plate 4 was pressed in the direction of arrow 12 to make the ink pattern 5 adhere to the fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10. Finally, as shown in FIG. 5, the gravure plate 4 is peeled off, and the ink pattern 1 printed on the fixed ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 is fixed.
1 was formed. Thereafter, by performing the steps described in the second embodiment, a multilayer ceramic capacitor could be manufactured with high accuracy.

In the case of the manufacturing apparatus according to the third embodiment, the gravure plate 4 can be manufactured at lower cost as compared with the first embodiment.
Since its storage space is small, it is suitable for the production of many kinds of small quantities. In the first and second embodiments, the ink is dried after printing the ink pattern 5 on the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10. In the third embodiment, the ink is dried on the plate-like gravure plate 4. Is dried in advance, and the dried ink pattern 5 can be transferred onto the fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10. At this time, by preparing a plurality of plate-like gravure plates 4, the productivity of the laminating step can be improved.

At this time, the transferability of the dried ink pattern 5 can be improved by subjecting the surface of the gravure plate 4 to a release treatment. As the surface treatment of the gravure plate 4, a method proposed by the present inventors in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 4-246594 can be used. The material of the gravure plate 4 can be resin or glass other than metal. When a long or endless resin film is used, the productivity can be improved.

(Embodiment 4) Hereinafter, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 6 shows a state in which the ceramic raw sheet laminate is fixed at a predetermined position while being fixed to the pallet plate, and the ink pattern is transferred from the gravure plate to the surface of the ceramic raw sheet laminate via the cylindrical rubber transfer member. is there. FIG.
In the above, 14 is a cylindrical rubber transfer member. Reference numeral 15 denotes a pallet plate, which is suitably a stainless steel plate having a thickness of about 0.5 mm. Reference numeral 16 denotes an adhesive layer, which adheres the pallet plate 15 and the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7.

In FIG. 6, the ceramic green sheet laminate 7 formed on the pallet plate 15 is fed in the direction of arrow 8 and mechanically positioned by the pins 9 to form a fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10. . By rotating the cylindrical rubber transfer body 14 in the direction of arrow 6, the ink pattern 11 is formed on the surface of the fixed ceramic green sheet laminate 10. Thereafter, the ink pattern 11 is dried,
A ceramic raw sheet is put on and laminated thereon, and the ink pattern 11 becomes the internal electrode 1.

FIG. 7 illustrates a printing lamination process and a cutting process using the pallet plate 15, and 17 is a cutting section. In FIG. 7A, the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7
Are adhered to the pallet plate 15 via an adhesive layer 16. FIG. 7B shows a state where the pallet plate 15 is fixed by the pins 9. The ink pattern 11 printed on the surface of the cylindrical rubber transfer body 14 is transferred to the surface of the ceramic green sheet laminate 10 thus fixed. Next, FIG.
As shown in (c), the ceramic green sheet 13 is laminated on the printed ink pattern 11. FIG.
By repeating the process of FIG. 7C the required number of times, the ceramic raw sheet 13 and the internal electrodes 1 can be laminated with high accuracy. The laminated body thus completed is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, a cut portion 17 is formed. Thereafter, the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 cut into a predetermined shape by the cutting unit 17 is peeled off from the pallet plate 15 and fired to form the external electrodes 2, whereby a multilayer ceramic electronic component can be manufactured.

In the apparatus for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component according to the fourth embodiment, the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7 is conveyed in a state of being fixed to the pallet plate 15, so that the ceramic raw sheet laminate 7 having a different external shape can be used. Since it can be produced, the trouble of changing the type can be reduced.

The ceramic raw sheet laminate 1 on which the ink pattern 11 is fixed via the cylindrical rubber transfer member 14
0, the ceramic green sheet laminate 10
High-precision printing can be performed irrespective of the surface irregularities and ink wettability.

This will be described in more detail. As the multilayer ceramic electronic component, a multilayer piezoelectric element was taken as an example, and the number of laminated internal electrodes was 200 layers. 0.5mm thickness on pallet board 15
Select a 250mm square stainless steel plate and place a 30mm thick
The μm ceramic green sheet laminate 7 was bonded via an adhesive layer 16. As the pin 9, a commercially available pin having a diameter of 5 mm made of carbide was used.
6 was in contact with two adjacent pieces as shown in FIG.
Also, as to confirm the contact between the pin 9 and the pallet board 15,
The three pins 9 and the pallet board 15 are electrically insulated, and the sequence is assembled so that the signal that the pallet board 15 is positioned at the predetermined position is output only when all three pins 9 come into contact with the pallet board 15. Was.

After stacking 200 layers in this way, the stacking accuracy was confirmed.
μm or less. In the next step, the sample on which the lamination has been completed is not peeled from the pallet plate 15 (the cut portion 1 is cut by the adhesive layer 16 without damaging the pallet plate 15).
7), only the ceramic green sheet laminate 10 was cut. In the fourth embodiment, after the printing and lamination, the process is continuously advanced to the cutting process, so that the manufacturing process is easily rationalized. Pallet board 1
5 and fired to form the external electrode 2, thereby producing a laminated piezoelectric element. When the characteristics of this product were evaluated, the variation in the characteristics was low and sufficiently satisfied the specifications. Further, in the fourth embodiment, by using the pallet plate 15, it is possible to cope with ceramic raw sheet laminates 7 having different external dimensions without adjusting printing and lamination conditions. In addition, by preparing a plurality of pallet plates 15, continuous productivity is excellent.

(Embodiment 5) A fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Embodiment 5 relates to another example of a manufacturing apparatus for a multilayer ceramic electronic component. FIG. 8 shows a manufacturing apparatus configured to move a gravure plate by a predetermined distance when stacking internal electrodes while displacing them by a predetermined dimension. In FIG. 8, reference numeral 12 denotes an arrow. In the fifth embodiment, the gravure plate 4 is shifted by a predetermined distance in this direction. A sliding mechanism using a bearing or the like can be selected as the shifting mechanism. When this mechanism was attached to the manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1 to manufacture a multilayer ceramic capacitor in which the layers of the internal electrodes were alternately shifted by a predetermined distance, the displacement of the internal electrodes was always constant at 2 μm or less.

On the other hand, when the ceramic raw sheets on which the ink patterns were printed were shifted by using the same mechanism while recognizing each image while recognizing the images, the displacement of the internal electrodes was at most 30 μm.

For comparison, the accuracy of the shifting mechanism was confirmed using a screen plate instead of a gravure plate as a conventional example. The screen plate was fixed to the same mechanism, and printing was performed 10,000 times while being shifted by the same mechanism a predetermined distance each time. Then, the dimensions of the printed pattern were measured. The print pattern was shifted by a maximum of 60 μm as compared with the shift amount. Then, when the repeatability of the shift mechanism was measured, it was 2 μm or less. Eventually, the cause of the variation in the amount of displacement was the elongation of the screen of the screen plate. On the other hand, when an experiment was performed on a gravure plate using the same shift mechanism, the shift from the design value was 3 μm or less even after 10,000 or 1 million printings. By using a rigid gravure plate instead of a screen plate in this way, it is possible to perform high-accuracy offset printing which has not been achieved conventionally.

(Embodiment 6) A sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG. Embodiment 6 relates to another example of a manufacturing apparatus for a multilayer ceramic electronic component. FIG. 9 shows a manufacturing apparatus for moving a cylindrical rubber transfer body 14 by a predetermined distance when stacking internal electrodes while shifting them by a predetermined size. In FIG. 9, reference numeral 12 denotes an arrow. In the fifth embodiment, the cylindrical rubber transfer body 14 is shifted by a predetermined distance in a state where the ink pattern 5 is formed in this direction.
A sliding mechanism using a bearing or the like can be selected as the shifting mechanism. When this mechanism was attached to the manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG. 6 and a multilayer ceramic capacitor was manufactured such that the internal electrodes were shifted from each other by a certain distance, the displacement of the internal electrodes was always 2 μm.
m or less.

On the other hand, when the ceramic green sheets on which the ink patterns were printed were laminated while shifting each time while recognizing an image using the same mechanism, the amount of displacement between adjacent internal electrodes was 30 μm at maximum.

When an experiment was performed on a gravure plate using this shift mechanism, the shift from the designed value was 3 μm or less even after 10,000 or 1 million printings.

(Embodiment 7) Hereinafter, a seventh embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Embodiment 7
FIG. 10 shows another example of a manufacturing apparatus for a multilayer ceramic electronic component. FIG. 10 shows a manufacturing apparatus for moving a ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 together with a pallet plate 15 by a predetermined distance when laminating internal electrodes while shifting them by a predetermined dimension. . FIG.
At 0, reference numeral 12 denotes an arrow. In the seventh embodiment, the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 is shifted by a predetermined distance in this direction. A sliding mechanism using a bearing or the like can be selected as the shifting mechanism. When this mechanism was attached to the manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 6 to manufacture a multilayer ceramic capacitor, the amount of displacement between adjacent internal electrodes was always constant at 2 μm or less.

On the other hand, using a similar mechanism, while recognizing an image of the ceramic raw sheet on which the ink pattern has been printed,
When the layers were laminated while being shifted each time, the amount of deviation between adjacent internal electrodes was 30 μm at the maximum.

When an experiment was performed on a gravure plate while moving the ceramic raw sheet laminate every time using this shifting mechanism, the deviation from the design value was 3 μm or less after 10,000 or 1 million printings. By using the pallet plate 15 as described in the seventh embodiment, the handling of the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 becomes simple and accurate, and the production cost can be significantly reduced.

In the present invention, when printing is performed by offset printing, stable printing cannot be performed unless the transfer body is rubber-like, and the transfer body must be cylindrical. If hemispherical transfer body shape such as transfer printing called pad printing,
Since the printing shape is greatly distorted, it is necessary to correct the pattern of the gravure plate while calculating the amount of deformation of the transfer body, so that the cost increases, and the shape stability of the pattern printing when one million or more sheets are printed is poor. On the other hand, in the case of the cylindrical shape according to the seventh embodiment, the pattern on the gravure plate is transferred as it is onto the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 which is to be printed.

Further, even when the ink pattern 11 is printed from the gravure plate directly on the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10, the positioning accuracy is not reduced because the ceramic raw sheet laminate 10 is fixed.

In the present invention, the base surface (peeled surface) of the ceramic green sheet having a very small surface roughness can be selected as the printing surface of the ceramic green sheet laminate 10 to be printed, and very stable printing can be performed. Will be possible.

When performing gravure printing of an electrode material on a conventional ceramic raw sheet, if the second printing is performed after the first printing and drying, alignment such as automatic recognition is required, and the first printing is performed. Printing and the second printing are 30μ
m.

On the other hand, in the case of the present invention, the first printing,
Even if the second printing is performed after the drying, since the alignment accuracy is high, the ink patterns can be overlapped twice without displacement. In this case, the thickness variation of the electrode ink material in the ink pattern can be reduced by half as compared with the case of printing once. Originally, gravure printing is easy to cope with thinning, so by using the present invention, it is possible to reduce the thickness unevenness of the electrodes by printing multiple thin-layer printing patterns.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, since both the printing and lamination processes of the multilayer ceramic electronic component can be performed with high precision, various multilayer ceramic electronic components can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a main part showing an example of an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A to 2D are cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a method for manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component of the second embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a cutaway perspective view showing a method for manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component of the third embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a cutaway perspective view showing a method for manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component of the third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a cutaway perspective view showing the method for manufacturing the multilayer ceramic electronic component of the third embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of a main part showing an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to the fourth embodiment.

7A to 7D are cross-sectional views illustrating a printing lamination process and a cutting process using the same pallet plate.

FIG. 8 is a schematic perspective view of a main part showing an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component of the fifth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic perspective view of a main part showing an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to the sixth embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view of a main part of an apparatus for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component according to the seventh embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a partial cross-sectional perspective view of a general multilayer ceramic capacitor.

FIG. 12 is a cross-sectional perspective view of a conventional multilayer ceramic capacitor in which lamination misalignment of internal electrodes has occurred.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Internal electrode 2 External electrode 3 Dielectric layer 4 Gravure plate 5 Ink pattern 6 Direction of rotation of gravure plate 7 Ceramic raw sheet laminate 8 Direction of sending ceramic raw sheet laminate 9 Pin 10 Fixed ceramic raw sheet laminate 11 Printed Ink Pattern 12 Arrow 13 Ceramic Raw Sheet 14 Cylindrical Rubber Transfer Body 15 Pallet Board 16 Adhesive Layer 17 Cutting Section

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ryo Kimura 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An ink pattern is transferred from a gravure plate onto a surface of a ceramic green sheet laminate having at least one layer of internal electrodes fixed at a predetermined position, and then the ceramic green sheet is laminated so as to cover the ink pattern. Repeating the above steps a predetermined number of times, cutting the ceramic green sheet laminate into a predetermined shape, firing, and forming external electrodes, thereby producing a multilayer ceramic electronic component. 2. An ink pattern is transferred from a gravure plate via a cylindrical rubber transfer body to a surface of a ceramic green sheet laminate having at least one internal electrode fixed in a predetermined position and covered with the ink pattern. A method for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component, comprising repeating the above steps of laminating ceramic green sheets a predetermined number of times, cutting the ceramic green sheet laminate into a predetermined shape, firing, and forming external electrodes. 3. A positioning mechanism for positioning a ceramic raw sheet laminate at the same position, a portion for conveying the ceramic raw sheet laminate to the positioning mechanism, and a predetermined electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate. An apparatus for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component, comprising: a gravure plate for gravure printing; and a portion for laminating a ceramic raw sheet on a printed electrode material on the ceramic raw sheet laminate. 4. A positioning mechanism for always positioning a pallet plate to which a ceramic raw sheet laminate is fixed at the same position, a portion for transporting the ceramic raw sheet laminate to the positioning mechanism, and An apparatus for manufacturing a laminated ceramic electronic component, comprising: a portion on which a predetermined electrode material is gravure printed; and a portion on which a ceramic raw sheet is laminated on the electrode material printed on the ceramic raw sheet laminate. 5. A plurality of internal electrodes are shifted by a predetermined distance by moving at least one of a gravure plate, a ceramic raw sheet laminate, a pallet plate, and a cylindrical rubber transfer body by a predetermined distance. 3. The method for manufacturing a ceramic electronic component according to claim 1.