Interest towards fabrication of nanostructured electro ceramic devices has witnessed
exponential growth in recent years, owing to the requirements of miniaturization,
multifunctionality and improved reliability. The major hurdle in realising the full potential
of nano ceramics is preventing the unwanted grain growth whilst achieving high
densification during conventional high temperature processing. In this project, a detailed
study was performed on the fabrication of nanostructured barium titanate based X7R
multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) using microwave assisted heating. The main
processing stages involved in MLCC manufacture were;
(i) nano BT powder synthesis,
(ii) making nano BT ink formulations suitable for screen printing,
(iii) sintering of components using conventional, microwave, hybrid heating methods and
(iv) performance evaluation of the end products. (Continues...)
