Investigation of interdiffusion in Ba(Ti,Zr)O3-based Y5V multilayer ceramic capacitors with Ni electrodes

The interdiffusion between the Ba(Ti.Zr)O-3 (BTZ) dielectric and the internal Ni electrode layers in Y5V-type multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) with an active layer thickness of 5 mu m was studied by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis. It was found that such interdiffusion leads to the formation of some defects and the lattice distortion near the interface. The diffusion degree of Ni into BTZ was higher than that of BTZ into Ni. In the EDS analysis the chemical composition was confirmed and the different diffusion degrees were verified. The generation of the interdiffusion and the relationship between the interdiffusion and degradation of MLCCs with Ni electrodes were also studied.