Method for manufacturing multilayer ceramic capacitors

Claim 1

A multilayer ceramic capacitor ends of which comprise electrically conductive terminals formed of an electrically conductive layer provided on end faces of a laminated plate formed of alternating layers of electrode material and sheets of dielectric ceramic material, at least one of said end faces having indentations and the portions of each of said layers of electrode material present in said end faces being free of contamination from material from said dielectric ceramic sheets, said capacitor being manufactured by a method in which layers of electrode material are locally applied to sheets of dielectric ceramic materials, the sheets thus provided with electrode layers stacked one on top of the other and compressed to form a laminated plate which plate is then subdivided into separate capacitor elements in such a manner that successive electrode layers are exposed at opposite end faces of the capacitor elements after which the capacitor elements are sintered and are provided with an electrically conducting layer on the said end faces, characterized in that the plate is arranged in a resilient frame and is then notched stepwise in a first direction and subsequently in a second direction at right angles to the first direction, one of said directions being perpendicular to the surfaces of said plate and being carried out simultaneously along division lines of both sides of said plate in such a manner that along the notched division lines a spontaneous rupture occurs through the remaining thickness of the plate, sintering the resultant separate capacitor elements and then providing electrically conductive layers on the end faces of the sintered capacitor elements.