Papers by Author: Noriyuki Inoue

Abstract: Electric potential mapping of degraded dielectric layers of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) was carried out using Kelvin probe force microscopy in order to clarify their degradation mechanism under conditions of an accelerated lifetime test condition. In the cross sections of the degraded and as-prepared dielectric layers, a significant electric field concentration was found in the vicinity of the anode of the degraded dielectric layer, in contrast to a homogeneous concentration found throughout layers of the samples before the accelerated lifetime test.

Abstract: We performed first-principles calculations to examine the interaction among rare-earth (RE), alkaline-earth (AE) elements and oxygen vacancy (V_O) in BaTiO₃, in order to clarify the combined effects of V_O trapping by two different elements. It was found that there is a synergistic effect of V_O trapping by RE at Ba site and AE at Ti site, so that the co-doping is effective to improve insulating reliability of BaTiO₃. We also verified that the local atomic structures around dopants obtained by calculations well agree with that obtained experimentally by extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analyses. The present work is the first one to clarify the structural environment around dopants including V_O by both theoretical and experimental approaches.

Abstract: The effect of rare earth (Ln = Gd, Dy, Y and Yb) and Mg ions on the microstructure and reliability of BaTiO3-based monolithic ceramic capacitors (MLCs) with Ni electrodes was investigated. The X-ray diffraction results about the lattice volume of sintered specimens suggested that Gd and Dy ions predominatly substituted into the Ba-site, Yb ions gave exclusive substitution at the Ti-site, while Y ions occupied either the Ba- and Ti-site. The reliability of ceramic capacitors was increasing with increasing the ionic radius of the rare earths in this study. The nonlinearity coefficient() etsimated from the leakage currents and the lifetime measured from the highly accelerated lifetime testing (HALT) showed a negative correlation which was observed only from Dy and Y ions doped specimens. The quantity of Ln and Mg in the grains tended to increase with increasing the Ln ionic radius. In order to improve the reliability and the insulation property of BaTiO3 based MLCs with Ni electrodes, it is important that acceptor ions at the Ti-site compensate donor ions which are rare earth ions at the Ba-site, so the overall quantity of the dopants required for the charge compensation with acceptor and donor ions increases accordingly.