A nanowire array structure having an array of nanopillars located in a well in a material layer. The nanopillars of the array extend in the direction from the well floor towards the well mouth. A hard mask overlies the outer peripheral nanopillars in the array and extends outwards to cover the remainder of the well mouth. An aperture in the hard mask exposes the nanopillars disposed inwardly of the outer peripheral nanopillars. The hard mask planarizes the structure, avoiding formation of large topological features at the periphery of the array of nanopillars, thus facilitating integration of the structure into a semiconductor product. At least some of the outer peripheral nanopillars may be in pores of anodic oxide. There are also disclosed semiconductor products incorporating such nanowire array structures and methods of their fabrication.

A chip electronic component includes spacers that each have a predetermined thickness direction dimension on a mounting surface in a direction perpendicular to the mounting surface. The spacers each contain, as a main component, an intermetallic compound containing at least one high-melting-point metal selected from Cu and Ni, and Sn defining a low-melting-point metal.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a body including a dielectric layer and first and second internal electrodes disposed with the dielectric layer interposed therebetween and disposed in point-symmetry with each other; first and second connection electrodes penetrating the body in a direction perpendicular to the dielectric layer and connected to the first internal electrode; third and fourth connection electrodes penetrating the body in a direction perpendicular to the dielectric layer and connected to the second internal electrode; first and second external electrodes disposed on both surfaces of the body and connected to the first and second connection electrodes; and third and fourth external electrodes spaced apart from the first and second external electrodes and connected to the third and fourth connection electrodes, and the first and second internal electrodes include a region in which an electrode is not disposed.

An electronic component includes a multilayer capacitor including a capacitor body including a dielectric layer and an internal electrode, and an external electrode disposed on one surface of the capacitor body, a frame terminal disposed on the external electrode, and a conductive bonding portion disposed between the external electrode and the frame terminal. The frame terminal has a groove portion extending along an outer periphery of an area in contact with the conductive bonding portion.

A capacitor comprising first and second end sprays respectively located at distal ends of a capacitor cell, a positive polarity bus bar extending from a first wound conductive layer of the capacitor cell adjacent to the first end spray, a negative polarity bus bar extending from a second wound conductive layer of the capacitor cell adjacent to the second end spray, and a capacitor film wrapped around an area between the first and second conductive layers.

A ceramic body is prepared that includes an inner electrode disposed inside the ceramic body and in which an end portion of the inner electrode is led to a surface of the ceramic body. An electrode layer is formed on the surface of the ceramic body so as to cover the end portion of the inner electrode, the electrode layer containing a resin, a first metal filler that contains a first metal component, and a second metal filler that contains a second metal component having a higher melting point than the first metal component. A heating step of heating the electrode layer is performed to form an electrode including a metal layer that is located on the surface of the ceramic body and that contains the first and second metal components and a metal contained in the inner electrode.

A ceramic body is prepared that includes an inner electrode disposed inside the ceramic body and in which an end portion of the inner electrode is led to a surface of the ceramic body. An electrode layer is formed on the surface of the ceramic body so as to cover the end portion of the inner electrode, the electrode layer containing a resin, a first metal filler that contains a first metal component, and a second metal filler that contains a second metal component having a higher melting point than the first metal component. A heating step of heating the electrode layer is performed to form an electrode including a metal layer that is located on the surface of the ceramic body and that contains the first and second metal components and a metal contained in the inner electrode.

In an electronic component, an outer electrode includes a sintered layer containing a sintered metal, an insulation layer containing an electric insulation material, and a Sn-containing layer containing Sn. The sintered layer extends from each of end surfaces of an element assembly onto at least one main surface thereof so as to cover each of the end surfaces of the element assembly. The insulation layer is directly provided on the sintered layer at each of the end surfaces of the element assembly so as to extend in a direction perpendicular or substantially perpendicular to a side surface of the element assembly, and defines a portion of a surface of the outer electrode. The Sn-containing layer covers the sintered layer except for a portion of the sintered layer that is covered by the insulation layer, and constitutes another portion of the surface of the outer electrode.

In electronic devices, as a result of miniaturization, the distance between a mounting board and an upper board or a shield case and the like, or the distance between the mounting board and other electronic components mounted adjacent thereto has become smaller. An electronic component is provided with: an element body internally containing a circuit element; and a terminal formed on the element body. The terminal is formed over an end surface of the element body and a surface adjacent to the end surface. An insulating film covering the terminal is formed on the element body. The terminal is exposed from the insulating film at least at a mounting surface of the element body, and a plating film containing tin is formed on a portion of the terminal exposed from the insulating film.

A manufacturing method for an electronic component includes: a step of forming an insulating layer on an outer electrode body so as to cover the outer electrode body, the outer electrode body being formed on a chip element which forms the electronic component; and a step of removing the insulating layer in a predetermined region of the outer electrode body by applying laser light to the insulating layer in the predetermined region so as to expose the predetermined region. The insulating layer has a higher absorption coefficient for the laser light than a material forming a surface of the outer electrode body.