Low Temperature Synthesis of Electrode Films from Silver-Palladium Alloy Powders for Multilayer Ceramic Devices

Physical and electrical properties of three types of Ag-Pd pastes, which consist of different metal fine powders, i.e., a coprecipitated powder, an agglomerated alloy powder made by heat treatment and a pulverized alloy powder produced by improved pulverization method, have been studied. The paste prepared from pulverized alloy powder showed a higher film packing density (6.3g/cm3) than those made of the other powders. The film consisting of pulverized alloy powder showed a lower expansion at around 500°C, a lower shrinkage from 700°C to 1100°C and a lower electric resistivity. The results indicated that the paste which consists of an pulverized Ag-Pd alloy powder was superior in performance to the other two pastes for an internal electrode material of multilayer ceramic device.