The structural characteristics of ceramic capacitors vary primarily depending on their specific type and manufacturing process; however, as exemplified by the currently dominant Multilayer Ceramic Chip Capacitors (MLCCs), their structure exhibits the following typical features:
Multilayer Alternating Stacked Structure: Composed of alternating layers of ceramic dielectric material and internal metal electrodes, which are co-fired at high temperatures to form a single, integrated chip-resembling a "sandwich" architecture.
Miniaturized Packaging: Employs Surface Mount Technology (SMT), featuring common package sizes such as 0201 and 0402, making it suitable for high-density PCB layouts.
Non-Polar Design: The electrodes are symmetrically distributed, with no distinction between positive and negative terminals, making them suitable for use in both AC and DC circuits.
External Electrode Connection: External electrodes (typically a multilayer Ni/Sn/Cu plating) are applied to both ends of the chip to establish an electrical connection with the circuit.
Dielectric materials typically consist of ferroelectric ceramics-such as barium titanate (BaTiO₃)-whose properties are tuned through doping (e.g., with rare earth elements).
Internal electrodes have transitioned from early-stage precious metals (e.g., Ag/Pd) to mainstream base metals (e.g., Ni, Cu), thereby reducing costs.
