Highly Accelerated Lifetesting (halt) of Kemet Base-metal- Electrode (bme) Ceramic Chip Capacitors

The ever-growing price of precious metals has promoted the widespread use of nickel and copper in the internal electrodes and end terminations of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). While these base metal electrode (BME) capacitors are less expensive than capacitors made with palladium and silver/palladium, their unique production process produces an identifiable wear-out mechanism. Highly accelerated lifetesting is used to evaluate the reliability of BME MLCCs within reasonable timeframes by using high electric field stress and high temperature. The results of this testing are fit to a well known reliability model and then the model is used to predict device reliability under maximum rated conditions for these capacitors. Median life, t50, is found to be in excess of 1000 years at maximum rated conditions.