JPH0992587A - Ceramic electronic part manufacturing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a drying device which is capable of shortening a a time required for drying electrodes and reducing the distortion of an organic flexible support to a minimum by a method wherein the drying equipment is possessed of a drying chamber where the organic flexible support is introduced, and hot air is introduced into the drying chamber to dry up undried electrodes. SOLUTION: A drying device 35 is equipped with a drying chamber 350 where a flexible support 19 provider with undried electrodes is introduced. Hot air is introduced into the drying chamber 350 to dry up the undried electrodes provided to the flexible support 19. The drying chamber 350 is provided with an air supply path 351 at its one end and an exhaust path 352 at its other end. Hot air which flows into the drying chamber 350 through the air supply path 351 as shown by an arrow J1 is made to pass through the drying chamber 350 and discharged through the exhaust path 352 as shown by an arrow J2 . A ceramic electronic part manufacturing device is equipped with a feed roll 21, a printing device A, and a take-up roll 38 besides the drying device 35.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing ceramic electronic components.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A ceramic electronic component is, for example, a ceramic powder prepared by a doctor blade method on an organic flexible support,
A ceramic paint containing an organic binder, a plasticizer, a solvent and the like is applied to form an unfired ceramic layer (referred to as a green sheet), and an electrode of palladium, silver, nickel or the like is formed thereon by screen printing. Next, one by one is laminated so as to have a desired laminated structure, and a green ceramic chip is obtained through a press cutting process. The binder in the unfired ceramic chip thus obtained is burned out and fired at 1000 ° C to 1400 ° C to form terminal electrodes of silver, silver-palladium, nickel, copper or the like on the obtained fired body. , Get ceramic electronic components.

Another means is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-188.
No. 926 discloses a method of thermal transfer of a ceramic layer with the flexible support facing up.

Further, as another technique, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-342736, a step of forming a dielectric layer on a flexible support and a step of printing electrodes on the dielectric layer are described. , A method of obtaining a laminate by repeating the required number of laminates is disclosed.

Whichever manufacturing method is used, a drying device for drying an undried electrode formed on an organic flexible support is required. Since the solvent used for the electrode paste is a high boiling point solvent such as terpineol in the conventional drying device, the high boiling point solvent is heated to the boiling point using a far infrared heater to dry the electrode paste. In addition,
The boiling point of terpineol is 212 ° C.

However, when a far infrared heater is used, a drying temperature of 90 ° C., a drying time of 180 seconds is required, and the drying efficiency is poor.

In addition, in the drying step, there is a problem that the organic flexible support which supports the unsintered dielectric layer and the electrodes is thermally deformed. This thermal deformation is 100 mm wide
With a flexible support having a thickness of 50 μm, for example, the thickness becomes 105 μm. When such thermal deformation occurs, displacement of the electrode pattern occurs in the step of forming the electrode pattern on the ceramic layer by means of printing or the like. For example, when the flexible support is contracted by 100 μm, the electrode pattern is displaced by a maximum of 100 μm.

Moreover, as is clear from the assumption of a monolithic ceramic capacitor or the like, in the manufacturing process of this kind of ceramic electronic component, the step of forming the ceramic layer and the step of forming the electrode pattern thereon are the number of laminated layers. In response to the,
Since the process is repeated, the electrode pattern is displaced each time, and it is accumulated according to the number of times of lamination, and it becomes impossible to obtain the required characteristics.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying device capable of shortening the time required for electrode drying.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying device capable of minimizing the deformation of the organic flexible support.

[0011]

In order to solve the above problems, a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is a drying apparatus for drying an undried electrode supported by an organic flexible support. Have. The drying device has a drying chamber through which the flexible support is passed, and hot air is passed through the drying chamber to dry the undried electrode.

According to the above hot air drying, for example, 45 to
The drying process can be performed at a low temperature of 80 ° C. in a drying time of about 1/3 of the conventional time. Moreover, the amount of deformation of the organic flexible support can be minimized. The amount of deformation of the organic flexible support can be specifically suppressed to 20 μm or less.

As described above, conventionally, the solvent used for the electrode paste is a high boiling point solvent such as terpineol, and it is based on the idea that it cannot be dried unless it is heated to a high boiling point. It used a far infrared heater. In the present invention, hot air drying is adopted from the viewpoint that rapid drying can be performed by removing the saturated vapor layer of the solvent that is evaporated from the printed electrode paste and is present in the drying chamber.

Other features of the present invention and the effects thereof will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0015]

1 is a diagram schematically showing the configuration of a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In the illustrated ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus, an organic flexible support 1 having an unfired ceramic layer formed on one surface side thereof
9 is pulled out from the supply roll 21 in the direction indicated by the arrow F1, passes through the guide roller 22, and passes through the printing table 25.
Be led to. Reference numeral 23 is a support body that supports the guide roller 22, and reference numeral 24 is a support base. Flexible support 1
9 is made of a heat resistant synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate.

On the printing table 25, the printing apparatus A prints an electrode having a predetermined pattern on the unfired ceramic layer formed on one surface of the flexible support 19. The electrode paste used for electrode printing contains metal powder serving as a conductive component, a binder, and a solvent. Metal powder as a conductive component is well known, usually palladium,
At least one of silver and nickel, or an alloy thereof is used. The solvent is a high boiling point solvent such as terpineol.

The flexible support 19 with the electrodes printed thereon passes through the transmitted light visual inspection table 31, the guide roller 32, and the roller 3.
It is placed on a belt conveyor 36 rotating between 3 and 34, dried by a drying device 35, passed through a guide roller 37, and taken up by a take-up and take-up roller 38.

The drying device 35 has a drying chamber 350 through which the flexible support 19 having undried electrodes is passed. Then, hot air is circulated in the drying chamber 350 to dry the undried electrode on the flexible support 19 with hot air. The drying chamber 350 has an air supply passage 351 at one end and an exhaust passage 352 at the other end. Air supply
The hot air flowing from 351 into the drying chamber 350 as indicated by arrow J1 is
It passes through the inside of the drying chamber 350 and is discharged from the exhaust passage 352 in the direction of arrow J2.

According to the above hot air drying, for example, 45 to
The drying process can be performed at a low temperature of 80 ° C. in a drying time of about 1/3 of the conventional time. Moreover, the flexible support 19
The amount of deformation of can be minimized. Flexible support 19
Specifically, the amount of deformation can be suppressed to 20 μm or less.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific embodiment of the drying device 35. In FIG. 2, the drying device 35 has a plurality of drying chambers 350. Each of the drying chambers 350 has an air supply passage 351 on one end side that is an outlet side and an exhaust passage 352 on the other end side that is an inlet side with respect to the feeding direction F1 of the flexible support 19. Therefore, the electrodes on the flexible support 19 are dried by the hot air flowing in the direction F2 opposite to the feeding direction F1 of the flexible support 19.

FIG. 3 is a view showing another embodiment of the drying device. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, each of the plurality of drying chambers 350 is provided with a feed direction F1 of the flexible support 19.
With respect to the above, the air supply passage 351 is provided at one end side that is the outlet side, the exhaust passage 352 is provided at the other end side that is the inlet side, and the far infrared heater 353 is provided. Therefore, in the case of the embodiment of FIG. 7, the drying action by the far infrared heater 353 is obtained together with the drying action by the hot air supplied from the air supply passage 351. Depending on the amount of heat given from the far infrared heater 353,
The temperature of the air to be supplied from the supply passage 351 can be changed. Depending on the amount of heat given by the far-infrared heater 353, it is also possible to supply air at room temperature. Once again, a gas flow is generated inside the drying chamber 350, thereby removing the saturated vapor layer of the solvent present in the drying chamber 350 that evaporates from the printed electrode paste and allows for rapid drying.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the structure of a hot air generator for supplying hot air to the drying device 35. The hot air generator includes a hot air generator 354 and a hepa filter 355. Hot air generator
Reference numeral 354 has a heater, a blower, and the like, which are not shown, and heats the air supplied from the intake passage 356 and the hepa filter 355 and sends it out. The Hepa filter 355 improves the cleanliness of air. The exhaust passage 352 connected to the drying chamber 350 joins the intake passage 356 via the return passage 357. This circulation improves the thermal efficiency. The drying chamber 350 may be provided with another exhaust passage 358.

Next, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the flexible support 19 has an unfired ceramic layer 43 on one surface, and also has first target marks a1, b1, c1, d1 for image processing and a pitch mark e1. The first target marks a1 to d1 and the pitch mark e1 are the ceramic layer 43.
It is desirable to form it on the surface side to which is applied and on the end portion in the width direction of the flexible support 19. The first target marks a1 to d1 and the pitch mark e1 may be image-processable marks such as marks or through holes formed by screen printing, gravure printing, inkjet printing, or the like, and the print receiving surface 251 is a flexible support. Either side of the body 19 may be used. Further, the formation timing of the first target marks a1 to d1 and the pitch mark e1 may be any time before electrode printing by image processing is performed, and may be the same as the first electrode formation. The preferable timing for forming the first target marks a1 to d1 is before the flexible support material web is cut with a slitter. If the first target marks a1 to d1 are formed before cutting the original fabric for a flexible support with a slitter, when the original fabric is cut into a predetermined width with the slitter,
It is possible to cut using the first target marks a1 to d1 as a reference. It is desirable that the first target marks a1 to d1 have a color having a clear contrast with the flexible support 19 and have a circular shape.

The printing device A includes an image processing device 26.
The image processing device 26 performs electrode printing positioning on the flexible support 19 by image processing of the first target marks a1 to d1 for image processing formed on the flexible support 19. After forming the first target marks a1 to d1 for image processing on the flexible support 19, upon printing the electrodes, based on the information obtained by the image processing of the first target marks a1 to d1, The printing positioning of the electrodes can be performed. Therefore, the electrodes can be formed with high accuracy at predetermined positions with reference to the first target marks a1 to d1. Therefore, even a complicated electrode laminated structure can be formed accurately and in a short time.

In the embodiment, the printing apparatus A has a printing table 25 and table driving apparatuses 261 to 264, as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. The table 25 has a print receiving surface 251 that receives the flexible support 19, and the print receiving surface 251 constitutes a vacuum suction surface. Table drive device 261-264
Drives the table 25. According to this structure, upon printing positioning, the flexible support 19 can be securely vacuum-sucked so that the print receiving surface 251 of the table 25 is not displaced, and then the flexible support 19 can be positioned at a predetermined position. Therefore, the positioning accuracy becomes high.

The table drive devices 261-263 are provided with print receiving surfaces.
When the X direction and the Y direction which are two orthogonal axes virtual along 251 and the θ direction which rotates around the axis orthogonal to the two axes are hypothesized, the X direction driving device 261 and the Y direction driving device 2
Includes 62 and theta drive 263. The table 25 is driven in the X direction, the Y direction, and the θ direction by these driving devices 261 to 263. According to this structure, the print receiving surface
The flexible support 19 vacuum-adsorbed on the 251 can be moved and positioned in the X, Y, and θ directions. Therefore, even if the positional deviation occurs in any direction, the positional deviation can be reliably corrected. The table driving device 264 drives the table 25 in the Z-axis direction. The table drive devices 261-264 are supported by a guide rail 266 fixedly provided on the support base 24 and a support member 265 supported by the guide rail 266.

The image processing device 26 includes a plurality of cameras 26a.
26d, the light receiving parts of the cameras 26a to 26d are provided on the table 25. With this structure, the positions of the cameras 26a to 26d with respect to the print receiving surface 251 are fixed, so that the first target marks a1 to d1 can be accurately read by the cameras 26a to 26d at a constant position. Therefore, the positioning accuracy is improved. In the embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, the cameras 26a to 26d are supported by the support base 24 and guided from the light receiving window facing the print receiving surface 251 of the table 25 to the optical paths Pa to.
Flexible support 1 passing over the print receiving surface 251 by Pd
The first target marks a1 to d1 on 9 are detected.
The optical paths Pa to Pd allow the light from the light receiving unit to pass through the camera 26a to
It includes a reflecting mirror 260 which is incident on 26d. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the light receiving windows of the cameras 26a to 26d have holes 56a, 56b, 56c, 56d at the four corners of the table 25.
Embedded through. The cameras 26a to 26d are
The coordinates (x, y) of the first target marks a1 to d1 are read. Based on the read data, data processing is performed by a computer system (not shown), the table 25 is controlled, and the table 25 is moved in the θ direction, the x direction, and the y direction by the required amount.

FIG. 8 shows an electrode pattern 44 obtained by the above-mentioned electrode printing process, and FIG. 9 shows a side view of FIG. Each electrode constituting the electrode pattern 44 is made of an appropriate electrode material, for example, an electrode material containing nickel, copper or the like as a main component. In the electrode pattern 44, individual electrodes are arranged at intervals in the horizontal and vertical directions. In the embodiment, each electrode has m rows in the horizontal direction, and has 6 rows in the odd matrix in the vertical direction and 5 rows in each even column. 1 of the reference numbers attached to the electrodes
The first digit shows the column to which the electrode belongs, and the second digit shows the row to which it belongs. The number of rows and the number of columns are arbitrary. Among the above-mentioned electrodes, the electrode rows adjacent to each other in the lateral direction, for example, the electrodes 211 to 261 belonging to the first row and the electrodes 212 to 252 belonging to the second row correspond to the corresponding individual electrodes (211 and 212) to (261 and 262). ) Are arranged so as to differ by a predetermined dimension L in the vertical direction. A suitable dimension L is 1/2 of the electrode pitch 2L. However, since the electrode pattern can be moved to a desired pattern by the table 25, the electrode pattern does not have to be the illustrated pattern. For example,
It may be a pattern in which the electrodes in each column repeat the same arrangement.

In the printing process, the second target marks a2, b2, c2, d2 are formed together with the electrode pattern 44.
And the pitch mark e2 is printed. Along with the electrode pattern 44, the second target marks a2, b2, c2, d
2 and the pitch mark e2 are printed to perform the ceramic layer forming step and the printing step a plurality of times, and then the obtained laminated ceramic layer is peeled from the flexible support, and then obtained by peeling. When the step of laminating a plurality of laminated ceramic layers is taken, the mutual electrode patterns 44 are
The target marks a2, b2, c2, d2 of
Can be laminated. Further, when the plate making is exchanged, the positional relationship between the first target marks a1, b1, c1 and d1 with respect to the second target marks a2, b2, c2 and d2 which are printed at the same time as the electrode pattern 44 is checked, 1 target marks a1, b1, c1, d
The relative position between 1 and the electrode pattern 44 is known, and image processing can be performed.

Next, the details of positioning and positioning by the table 25 will be described. FIG. 10 shows Table 2
It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of four cameras 26a-26d with respect to FIG. The cameras 26a to 26d are arranged at four points corresponding to the positions of the first target marks a1 to d1 on the flexible support 19 described above. Cameras 26a-2
Although the arrangement position of 6d is fixed by design, in reality, since there is an arrangement error or the like, an error in reading the coordinates will occur as it is. As a means for correcting this, the camera 2 located under the table 25 is operated before the manufacturing process is started.
Based on one of 6a to 26d, for example, the camera 26a, the center point is defined as the origin (0, 0). Next, the table 25 is moved in the x-axis direction, and the coordinates (Xb, Yb) when the position corresponding to the origin (0, 0) reaches the center point of the camera 26b are read. This means that the position of the camera 26b when the center point of the camera 26a is the origin (0, 0) is represented as the coordinates (Xb, Yb). The same applies to the other cameras 26c and 26d.
The coordinates (Xc, Yc) and (Xd, Yd) are obtained. The above-mentioned initial correction is performed by using image processing on the display together. In this way, in determining the coordinates of each of the cameras 26a to 26d, the highly accurate table 25 is driven, so that
Coordinate reading error is extremely small. Reference symbol O ₀
Are coordinates (0, 0) representing the positions of the cameras 26a to 26d.
It is the midpoint calculated from (Xd, Yd).

The printing positions of the first target marks a1 to d1 are substantially the same even if there is no misalignment.
Since 9 is transported, it is often rotated in the plane of the table 25 by an angle θ or displaced in the X-axis or Y-axis direction. By correcting this positional deviation, the electrode pattern 44 is printed with high accuracy. As the means, the cameras 26a to 26d after the initial correction are used, and the coordinates of the first target marks a1 to d1 of the flexible support 19 vacuum-sucked on the table 25 are shown in FIG. Read as shown. The values read by the cameras 26a to 26d are the coordinates (Xb to Yb) set by the initial correction.
To (Xd to Yd) are added to the coordinates. Thus, the coordinates of the first target mark a obtained by the camera 26a are (X1, Y1), and the coordinates of the first target mark b obtained by the camera 26b are (X2, Y1).
2), the coordinates obtained by the camera 26c are (X3, Y
3), the coordinates obtained by the camera 26d are (X4, Y
4).

Obtained coordinates (X1, Y1) to (X4, Y
From the data of 4), as shown in FIG. 11, the midpoint O1 of the quadrangle surrounded by the first target marks a1 to d1 is obtained. The middle point O1 is the middle point (a) of the two opposite sides,
It is obtained as the midpoint of the line segment L1 connecting (b) and (b). This middle point O1 serves as an origin for alignment during printing. Then, a perpendicular line L2 passing through the middle point O1 is obtained for the line segment L1. The perpendicular line L2 normally forms an angle θ with respect to the Y axis of the table 25. The computer system calculates the midpoint O1 and the angle θ based on the data input from the cameras 26a to 26d to a computer system (not shown). Then, based on the control signal given from the computer system, the table 25 is rotationally driven in the direction of the arrow so that θ = 0, and thereby the angle θ
Is corrected. The table 25 is further driven in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction based on the control signal from the computer system to perform the alignment in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and the alignment is completed. FIG. 12 shows a state after the correction of the angle θ, FIG. 13 shows a state after the alignment in the X-axis direction, and FIG. 14 shows a state after the alignment in the Y-axis direction. It shows the state. However, in the actual alignment operation, the midpoint O
The operation is such that 1 is set to the midpoint O ₀ of the cameras 26a to 26d.

Here, in order to improve the accuracy, the camera 26
Although four a to 26 are used, even with two first target marks and two cameras, the midpoint between the two points is set, and the deviation angle θ between the two points is set and processed by the computer. Sufficient image processing printing is possible. Since the table 25 has a vacuum suction surface, it can be accurately moved in the x direction, the y direction, and the θ direction. After the image processing is performed in this manner, the table 25 is moved in the z direction by an arbitrary distance so as to come into contact with the back surface of the flexible support, and screen printing is performed.

After printing, the flexible support 19 is moved by a fixed size by a fixed length feeding device 29 (see FIG. 1), and is subsequently fed to a position where there are correction cameras 30a to 30d. In the fixed-length feeding device 29, the surface in contact with the flexible support 19 is a vacuum suction surface.
The back surface of is fixed to the vacuum suction surface of the fixed-length feeding device 29 by suction. Then, the pitch mark e1 is detected by the sensor (camera) 268.
And the fixed feed is applied to the flexible support 19 until the next pitch mark e1 is read by the sensor. In this way, the adjacent pitch marks e1
Since the fixed-length feed corresponding to the interval between the pitch marks e1 and the pitch marks e1 is added, there is no problem such that the first target marks a1 to d2 are out of the field of view of the cameras 30a to 30d due to conveyance deviation. Moreover, the fixed length feeding device 2
In No. 9, since the surface in contact with the flexible support 19 is a vacuum suction surface, the flexible support 19 will not be displaced on the fixed length feeding device 29 during the operation of the fixed length feeding. .

Although the correction cameras 30a to 30d have different stations, the positional relationships are the cameras 26a to 26d.
Is the same as FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a stage on which the correction cameras 30a to 30d are placed. Correction camera 30a
˜30d capture the optical images emitted from the projectors 301 to 304 and reflected by the first target marks a1 to d1 and the second target marks a2 to d2, and the first target marks a1 to d1 and the first target marks a1 to d1 and The two target marks a2 to d2 are detected. Floodlights 301-304
Are supported by support arms 305 and 306. here,
The positional deviation at the time of mounting the pattern plate is caused by the first target marks a1 to d1 and the second target marks a2 to d2.
Can be measured by reading the coordinates by the same method as in the above image processing, and a computer system (not shown) performs data processing to calculate a necessary correction amount and stores the data in the control system of Table 25. Feedback is performed, the table 25 is driven, and position correction is performed.

In the above description, the four cameras 30a-30
Although the case where d is used has been described, eight cameras are used, and the first target marks a1 to d1 and the second target marks a2 to d2 are used by the eight cameras.
May be simultaneously read. First target marks a1 to d1 and second target marks a2 to d
The positional relationship with the first target mark a1 is
It can be clarified by using a standard plate (e.g., glass standard plate) printed with ~ d1. To improve the accuracy, four correction cameras 30a to 30d are also used.
Even with two target marks and two cameras, it is possible to obtain the midpoint between the two points, obtain the deviation angle θ between the two points, and process by the computer. Correction camera 30a
The stage including 30 to 30d is configured to include an X-direction drive device 309, a Y-direction drive device 310, a support member 311, a guide rail 312, and a support base 313.

The thus obtained electrode-formed ceramic layer 19 is placed on a belt conveyor 36 rotating between rollers 33 and 34, passing through a transmitted light visual inspection table 31 and a guide roller 32, and a drying device. After drying at 35, it passes through the guide roller 37 and is wound up by the winding and winding roller 38. The rollers 22, 32, 33, 34 and 37 do not contact the printing surface of the flexible support 19 at all. As a result, the adverse effects of the rollers 22, 32, 33, 34 and 37 on the printing surface can be avoided. The structure and operation of the drying device 35 have already been described.

<Application Example> Next, a method for manufacturing a laminated ceramic capacitor using the manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 19 is a sectional view of a monolithic ceramic capacitor manufactured by the manufacturing method according to the present invention. FIG.
In the figure, 1 is a monolithic ceramic capacitor, 2 is a dielectric layer, 3 is an electrode, and 4 is a terminal electrode. FIG. 20 is a manufacturing flowchart for manufacturing a monolithic ceramic capacitor.

In the manufacturing flow chart of FIG. 20, the dielectric is made into a paint, and the paint-made ceramic paint is applied on the flexible support to form a ceramic layer.

Next, after the ceramic layer is dried, the steps of electrode printing, drying and winding are performed on the ceramic layer by using the laminated ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

After performing the ceramic layer forming step and the printing step a plurality of times, the obtained laminated ceramic layer is peeled off from the flexible support, and then peeled off on the separately formed first protective layer. A plurality of laminated ceramic layers obtained in this way are laminated. Thereafter, the laminated body of the electrodes and the ceramic layers is cut, the laminated ceramic capacitor is taken out, and further, necessary steps such as firing and end electrode application are performed to obtain a completed laminated ceramic capacitor.

According to the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 20, a ceramic layer forming step of forming a ceramic layer by applying a ceramic coating on a flexible support, and a printing step of printing electrodes on the ceramic layer. Therefore, mass productivity is improved.

Further, since laminated ceramic layers having a plurality of laminated layers are laminated, even if each ceramic layer is thinned,
No damage occurs during handling. There is also no thermal transfer step. Therefore, a highly accurate and highly reliable multilayer ceramic electronic component can be easily manufactured. Further, the step difference between the portion with the electrode and the portion without the electrode is absorbed by the repetition of the formation of the ceramic layer and the printing of the electrode, so that the defect such as the crack due to the step is improved.

In the electrode printing process, before the printing process or at the same time as the first printing process, the first target mark for image processing is formed on the flexible support, and the first target mark of the first target mark is formed. The electrodes are printed and positioned based on the information obtained by the image processing. Thereby, the electrode can be formed with high accuracy at a predetermined position based on the first target mark. Therefore, even a complicated electrode laminated structure can be formed accurately and in a short time.

In the drying step, the above-mentioned drying device is used,
Hot air is passed through the drying chamber to dry the undried electrode on the flexible support with hot air. By this hot air drying, it is possible to perform drying at a low temperature, while keeping the deformation amount of the flexible support to a minimum. A more detailed description will be given below with reference to specific examples.

<Dielectric coating material> Particle size of 0.1 μm
After firing powder of barium titanate, chromium oxide, yttrium oxide, manganese carbonate, barium carbonate, calcium carbonate, silicon oxide, etc. having a thickness of about 1.0 μm, BaTiO ₃ 10
0 mol%, 0.3 mol% converted to Cr ₂ O ₃ , 0.4 mol% converted to MnO, 2.4 mol% converted to BaO, C
1.6 mol% in terms of aO, 4 mol% in terms of SiO ₂ ,
The mixture was mixed so as to have a composition of 0.1 mol% in terms of Y ₂ O _3, and was mixed by a ball mill for 24 hours and dried to obtain a dielectric material. 100 parts by weight of this dielectric material, 5 parts by weight of acrylic resin, 40 parts by weight of methylene chloride, 25 parts by weight of acetone, and 6 parts by weight of mineral spirit are blended, and commercially available φ1
Using 0 mm zirconia beads, they were mixed by a pot stand for 24 hours to obtain a dielectric ceramic paint.

<Ceramic Layer Molding> The dielectric ceramic coating material obtained as described above was applied to a continuously supplied flexible support to mold a ceramic layer. Polyethylene terephthalate was used as the flexible support. The first ceramic layer forming step is a step of forming a protective film on the flexible support. In the case of the monolithic ceramic capacitor of FIG. 19, the protective film serves as an outer package that constitutes either the uppermost layer or the lowermost layer.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a ceramic layer forming process. In the illustrated ceramic layer forming step, the roller that contacts the flexible support 19 is arranged so as not to contact the coating surface of the flexible support. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent pinholes from being generated in the ceramic layer.

The extrusion type coating head 10 coats the flexible coating 19 with the ceramic coating 17a. Reference numeral 11 is a delivery reel, 121 to 127 are guide rollers, 161, 162 are meandering correction rollers, 14 is a drying device, and 17 is a take-up reel. In order to make the surface of the ceramic layer uniform, the tension between the suction rollers 151-152 is controlled to control the drive-in dimension of the coating head 10 and the nozzle angle. Rollers 121-127, 151, 152, 16 contacting the flexible support 19
Neither 1 nor 162 is arranged so as to come into contact with the paint application surface of the flexible support 19. With such a structure, it is possible to prevent pinholes from being generated in the ceramic layer due to peeling.

When the extrusion type coating head 10 is used as in the illustrated embodiment, the surface precision is very good and
A uniform ceramic layer with less variation in thickness can be obtained. For the first molding of the ceramic layer to be the protective film, a conventional doctor blade method or a reverse roll method may be used instead of the extrusion coating head. Further, it may be repeated several times to obtain a desired thickness. The filter 8 is installed to finally remove foreign matter.

When the extrusion type coating head 10 is used,
It is desirable to supply the ceramic coating 17a to the coating head 10 through the filter 8 and the mass flow meter 9 using the metering pump 6 and the precision metering gear pump 7. FIG. 22 shows a state in which the ceramic layer 43 is formed on the flexible support 19 by using the extrusion type coating head 10, and it is possible to obtain a ceramic layer 43 having a high degree of surface accuracy and an extremely small thickness variation. You can In FIG. 22, reference numeral F1 indicates the traveling direction of the flexible support 19.

FIG. 23 shows a state in which the ceramic layer 43 is formed on the flexible support 19 by using another extrusion type coating head 10. The coating head 1 shown in FIG.
0 has a plurality of series nozzles including a plurality of nozzles 461 and 462. 491 and 492 are ceramic paint reservoirs, and 531 and 532 are supply ports to the ceramic paint reservoirs 491 and 492. When this coating head 10 is used, the ceramic paint pool 49
After the ceramic paint 431 stored in 1 is applied to the flexible support 19 through the slit 461, another ceramic paint layer 432 is applied through the slit 462 on the applied ceramic paint layer 431. This suppresses the generation of pinholes.

Next, in order to obtain the ceramic layer 43 having no streaks, it is desirable to use a ceramic paint having a low viscosity. The extrusion type coating head 10 is suitable for forming a ceramic layer of a ceramic paint having such a low viscosity.
This is because the ceramic coating material having a low viscosity has a large drying shrinkage ratio, so that the supply amount can be increased in order to obtain the same thickness after drying, and the tip of the coating head 10 and the flexible support 19 (or the ceramic layer) can be supplied. This is because it is possible to prevent the generation of streaks by the coating head 10 by making a large gap between them.

In consideration of peeling of the ceramic layer 43, the flexible support 19 is preferably subjected to a peeling treatment on the ceramic layer molding surface. The peeling treatment can be performed by thinly coating one surface of the flexible support 19 with a peeling film made of Si or the like. By performing such a peeling process, after the lamination process for the required number of layers is completed, the lowermost ceramic layer 43 formed on the flexible support 19 is removed from the flexible support 19. It can be easily peeled off.

As described above, the extrusion type coating head 10 has a remarkable advantage in addition to forming a uniform ceramic layer without streaks. That is, it is very effective for forming a ceramic layer again on the ceramic layer 43 which has been formed once. In the doctor blade method, since the edge side of the head of the doctor blade is always in contact with the flexible support 19, there is no problem in the first ceramic layer molding, but the second or subsequent ceramic layer molding is inevitably caused. 1 ceramic layer 4
The dry surface on the edge side of 3 contacts. Therefore, there is a problem that the edge side of the first ceramic layer 43 is scraped. Further, as the number of laminated layers increases, the total thickness becomes thicker, so that the blade comes into contact with the upstream side of the blade and is eventually peeled off.

In this regard, in the extrusion type coating head 10, when the next ceramic layer 43 is formed on the surface of the ceramic layer 43 previously formed, the extrusion type is applied to the surface of the ceramic layer 43 previously formed. It is possible to obtain a good ceramic layer 43 which is not scraped without the coating head 10 coming into contact with it.

After forming the ceramic layer 43, the flexible support 19 is dried through the drying device 14, and the take-up reel 1
7

<Target Mark Formation> Next, before the electrode printing, the first target marks a1, b1, c for image processing are formed on the flexible support 19 having the ceramic layer 43.
1, d1 and pitch mark e1 were formed. The formation of the first target marks a1, b1, c1, d1 and the pitch mark e1 has already been described, and will be omitted.

<Electrode Printing by Image Processing> Next, using the take-up reel 17 on which the flexible support 19 is wound,
Electrodes were printed on the ceramic layer 43 on the flexible support 19 by image processing. The electrode paste is substantially N
i powder, ethyl cellulose-based binder and terpineol (high boiling point solvent). The details of the electrode printing by image processing have already been described, and will be omitted.

<Positioning by Image Processing> Positioning by image processing was executed by the image processing device 26. The details thereof have already been described in detail, and will be omitted.

<Drying Process> Drying device 3 shown in FIGS.
5 was combined with the hot air generator shown in FIG. In the combination of the drying device shown in FIG. 2 and the hot air generator shown in FIG. 4, a hot air generator 3 having two 3 kW heaters is provided.
53 was used. In the combination of the drying device shown in FIG. 3 and the hot air generator shown in FIG. 4, a 5 kW far-infrared heater 353 and a 3 kW hot air generator 353 were used in combination. Air volume of hot air generator 353 is 2.3 Nm ³ / min in any case
Set to. For comparison, without using the hot air generator,
A conventional drying device using a far infrared heater of 10 kW was prepared.

Electrode drying treatment was performed using the above-mentioned three kinds of drying means. The electrode drying results thus obtained are shown in Table 1. In Table 1, the deformation amount (μm) of the flexible support is
This is the amount of deformation per 100 mm width of the flexible support.

Even if the amount of deformation is small, if the drying time is long,
Since the effect on production efficiency and equipment cost reduction cannot be expected, drying time is 240sec when the amount of support deformation is within 30μm.
It is rational to set the acceptance criteria as within. Seen from such a criterion, in the conventional drying device using the far infrared heater, the drying time becomes as long as 180 to 600 seconds and the deformation amount reaches a maximum of 105 (μm), which is far from the acceptance criterion. . It is possible to suppress the deformation amount to 6 (μm), but in this case, the drying time becomes 600 seconds, which is extremely long.

On the other hand, two drying methods applied to the drying apparatus of the present invention, namely, hot air drying method and (hot air +
In the case of the far-infrared) drying method, most of them satisfy the acceptance criterion. In particular, in the temperature range of 45 to 80 ° C., the deformation amount is 3 to 25 (μm) and the drying time is 80 to 20.
It is markedly improved to 0 (sec). The reason why the amount of deformation tends to increase near 80 ° C. is presumed to be because 80 ° C. is higher than the glass transition point of polyethylene terephthalate. The reason why the amount of deformation is small in the hot air drying method is generally considered to be that the amount of heat actually applied to the organic flexible support is different between the hot air and the far infrared heater.

<Step of Obtaining Set Laminate Number> According to the manufacturing flow chart shown in FIG. 20, after performing the ceramic layer forming step and the printing step a plurality of times, the obtained laminated ceramic layer is peeled from the flexible support, Next, a plurality of laminated ceramic layers obtained by peeling were laminated on the first protective layer which was separately formed into a sheet. Next, the second protective layer separately formed into a sheet was laminated on the uppermost layer of the obtained laminate. FIG. 24 shows a specific example thereof. After performing the ceramic layer forming step and the printing step Q times, the obtained laminated ceramic layer 5
61 to 56Q was peeled from the flexible support, and then a plurality of Q laminated ceramic layers 561 to 56Q obtained by peeling were laminated on the first protective layer 56A which was separately formed into a sheet. The laminated ceramic layers 561 to 56Q were laminated while performing alignment based on the information obtained by the image processing of the second target marks a2 to d2. The alignment is as described in FIGS. Next, the second protective layer 56B separately formed into a sheet was laminated on the uppermost layer of the obtained laminated body.

<Process after obtaining the set number of laminated layers> The laminated ceramic layer obtained as described above was punched, pressed and cut to obtain a laminated green chip shown in FIG. The obtained laminated green chip was subjected to binder removal treatment under a predetermined temperature condition, followed by firing, and then a terminal electrode was formed by firing.

The conditions for binder removal and firing are well known in the art. In this example, the binder was removed at 280 ° C. for 12 hours and then fired at 1300 ° C. for 2 hours in a reducing atmosphere. The terminal electrode 4 was formed on the laminated body obtained after firing. The material and forming method of the terminal electrode 4 are well known in the past. In this example, copper was used as the main component, and the plating was performed by baking in N2 + H2 at 800 ° C for 30 minutes.

<Characteristic Evaluation> Table 2 shows the characteristic evaluation of the laminated ceramic capacitor obtained by the above-mentioned manufacturing method. In Table 2, sample No. 1 to 3 are samples obtained by drying by combining the drying device 35 shown in FIG. 2 and the hot air generating device shown in FIG. Sample No. 4,
5 is a comparative example, 10 kW without using a hot air generator
It is a sample obtained by drying with a conventional drying device using the far infrared heater. Sample No. Reference numeral 6 is a sample obtained by using the dryer shown in FIG. 3 and the hot air generator shown in FIG. 4 and combining a far-infrared heater 353 of 5 kW and a hot air generator 353 of 3 kW. The air volume of the hot air generator 353 was set to 2.3 Nm ³ / min in all cases.

Sample No. Each of 1 to 6 has a stack of 75 layers. The thickness of each ceramic layer is 8.0 before firing.
μm, and 5 μm after firing. This multilayer ceramic capacitor was evaluated for capacitance, dielectric loss, print misalignment, and yield. Table 2 shows the evaluation results.

A. Capacitance The impedance was measured at 20 ° C. using an impedance analyzer HP-4284A manufactured by Hewlett-Packard Company.

B. Capacitance Variation Capacitance variation is a value obtained by multiplying the standard deviation σ by 3 and dividing it by the capacitance average value, and is shown by% in Table 2. The larger the variation in capacitance, the greater the variation in capacitance for each product.

With reference to Table 2, the sample No. using the conventional drying device is shown. In 4 and 5, the capacitance variation is 12.3.
.About.35.6%, indicating that the variation of the capacitance for each product is extremely large. It is presumed that the reason for this is that when a conventional drying device is used, the amount of deformation of the flexible support during drying increases, and the overlapping area of the internal electrodes of each layer shifts.

On the other hand, the sample No. using the drying device according to the present invention was used. The electrostatic capacitance variations of 1 to 3 and 5 are 8.6% at the maximum and 4.5% at the minimum, which are remarkably improved as compared with the prior art.

C. Print deviation The multilayer ceramic capacitor was cut along the dotted line in FIG. 25, and the average value ΔGmax-av of the maximum value ΔGmax (see FIG. 26) of the positional deviation amount of 10 electrodes on the cut surface was measured. The average value ΔGmax-av is the same as sample No. 1 using a conventional drying device. In contrast to 33 to 108 μm in Samples Nos. 4 and 5, Sample No. 4 using the drying apparatus according to the present invention.
In 1 to 3 and 6, it is in the range of 8 to 18 μm. This means that the sample No. 1 obtained by the apparatus according to the present invention was used. 1 to
Sample Nos. 3 and 6 were obtained by the conventional apparatus.
It shows that the printing deviation is significantly smaller than that of Nos. 4 and 5.

D. Yield The yield is the sample No. In 4 and 5, 77 (%) and 83 (%)
On the other hand, sample No. 1 to 3, 6 to 89 to 93
It is in the range of (%) and a high yield can be secured.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention does not use a continuously supplied strip-shaped flexible support, but a single card-shaped flexible support. It is also applicable to the case where electrodes are printed on a support and the undried electrodes formed on this card-shaped flexible support are dried.

[0077]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained. (A) It is possible to provide a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying device capable of shortening the time required for electrode drying. (B) It is possible to provide a ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying device capable of minimizing the deformation of the organic flexible support and minimizing the displacement of the electrode pattern.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of a drying device included in the laminated ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing another embodiment of a drying device included in the laminated ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a hot air generator that supplies hot air to the drying device.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing an example of a flexible support processed by the monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

6 is a diagram showing a printing device included in the monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG.

7 is a diagram showing an arrangement of image processing cameras included in the image processing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the surface of the flexible support after printing the electrodes for the first time by the multilayer ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

9 is a side view of the flexible support shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating alignment based on image information using an image processing camera.

FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining alignment based on image information using an image processing camera.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating θ correction in alignment based on image information using an image processing camera.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining X-axis direction alignment in alignment based on image information using an image processing camera.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating Y-axis direction alignment in alignment based on image information using an image processing camera.

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the surface of the flexible support after printing electrodes for the second time by the multilayer ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

16 is a side view of the flexible support shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a plan view showing another example of an electrode obtained by the monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

18 is a diagram showing an arrangement of correction cameras included in the monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view of a monolithic ceramic electronic component that is a part of a product manufactured by a manufacturing method using the monolithic ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 20 is a view showing a manufacturing flowchart of a laminated ceramic electronic component using the laminated ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a ceramic layer forming step and a forming apparatus which can be used in the manufacturing method shown in FIG. 20.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating ceramic layer molding using an extrusion coating head.

FIG. 23 is a diagram for explaining ceramic layer molding using another extrusion coating head.

24 is a cross-sectional view of a laminate obtained by the manufacturing method according to the present invention shown in FIG.

25 is a perspective view of a laminated green chip obtained by pressing and cutting the laminated body shown in FIG.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating the definition of the maximum value ΔGmax of the amount of electrode displacement.

[Explanation of symbols]

19 flexible support 25 printing table 26a, 26b, 26c, 26d camera 35 drying device 351 air supply passage 352 exhaust passage a1 to d1 first target mark a2 to d2 second target mark 27 plate making 28 plate making table 43 Ceramic layer

Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasushi Izumibe 1-13-1 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Inside TDC Corporation

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying device for drying an undried electrode supported by an organic flexible support, wherein the drying device passes the flexible support. A ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus having a drying chamber, wherein hot air is blown into the drying chamber to dry the undried electrode. 2. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a supply unit, a printing device, and a winding unit, wherein the supply unit is not provided on one surface side. It holds an organic flexible support having a fired ceramic layer, and the printing device prints an electrode on the unfired ceramic layer of the flexible support supplied from the supply means. Yes, the drying device is for drying an undried electrode printed by the printing device, and the winding means is sequentially supplied from the supply means through the printing device and the drying device. An apparatus for manufacturing a ceramic electronic component that winds up the flexible support. 3. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the undried electrode contains a high boiling point solvent. 4. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the organic flexible support is made of a heat resistant synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate. 5. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hot air temperature in the drying chamber is about 45 ° C. to about 80 ° C.
Ceramic electronic component manufacturing equipment set within the range. 6. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drying device includes a far infrared heater in the drying chamber. 7. The ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printing device includes an image processing device, and the image processing device is an image formed on the flexible support. A ceramic electronic component manufacturing apparatus for performing electrode printing positioning on the flexible support by image processing of a first target mark for processing.