Effect of Cr additions on the microstructural stability of Ni electrodes in ultra-thin BaTiO3 multilayer capacitors

Microstructural control in thin-layer multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) is one of the present day challenges to maintain an increase in capacitive volumetric efficiency. This present paper opens a series of investigations aimed to engineer the stability of ultra-thin Ni electrodes in BaTiO₃-based multilayer capacitors using refractory metal additions to Ni. Here, pure Ni and Ni–1 wt.% Cr alloy powders are used to produce 0805-type BME MLCCs with 300 active layers and with dielectric and electrode layer thickness around 1 μm. To investigate the continuity of Ni electrodes, both MLCC chips with pure and doped electrodes were sintered at different temperatures for 5 h. It is found that the continuity of Ni electrodes is improved most likely due to the effect of Cr on the low-melting point (Ni,Ba,Ti) interfacial alloy layer formation. The interfacial alloy layer is not observed when Cr is segregated at Ni-BaTiO₃ interface in the Cr-doped samples, while it is found in all undoped samples. The interfacial alloy layer is believed to increase mass-transfer along the Ni-BaTiO₃ interfaces facilitating an acceleration of Ni electrodes discontinuities.