Laser micro-cladding electronic pastes for fabrication of MIM thick film capacitors

Abstract

Two direct-write processing methods – direct material deposition by microPen and Nd:YAG laser micro-cladding – are integrated with computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology for the fabrication of passive electronic components. A basic two-step procedure of the laser micro-cladding electronic paste (LMCEP) process for thick film pattern preparation is presented. In particular, metal-insulator-metal (MIM) type thick film capacitors are fabricated on ceramic substrates by the LMCEP process. Multilayer structures of the MIM thick film capacitors are demonstrated and discussed. Results of the frequency characteristics test show that the MIM thick film capacitors fabricated by the LMCEP process have excellent direct current (DC) voltage stability (<2.48%), excellent frequency stability (<2.6%) and low dissipation factor (<0.6%), which are sufficient for many megahertz applications.