A ceramic-capacitor includes a first electrically-conductive-layer, a second electrically-conductive-layer arranged proximate to the first electrically-conductive-layer, and a dielectric-layer interposed between the first electrically-conductive-layer and the second electrically-conductive-layer. The dielectric-layer is formed of a lead-lanthanum-zirconium-titanate material (PLZT), wherein the PLZT is characterized by a dielectric-constant greater than 125, when measured at 25 degrees Celsius and zero Volts bias, and an excitation frequency of ten-thousand Hertz (10 kHz). A method for increasing a dielectric constant of the lead-lanthanum-zirconium-titanate material (PLZT) includes the steps of depositing PLZT to form a dielectric-layer of a ceramic-capacitor, and heating the ceramic-capacitor to a temperature not greater than 300° C.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes: a multilayer chip having a parallelepiped shape in which each of a plurality of dielectric layers and each of a plurality of internal electrode layers are alternately stacked and each of the internal electrode layers is alternately exposed to two end faces of the multilayer chip, a main component of the plurality of dielectric layers being a ceramic; and a pair of external electrodes that are formed on the two end faces; wherein: the pair of external electrodes have a structure in which a plated layer is formed on a ground layer; a main component of the ground layer is a metal or an alloy including at least one of Ni and Cu; and at least a part of a surface of the ground layer on a side of the plated layer includes an interposing substance including Mo.

Ceramic raw material powder includes: a main phase having a perovskite structure, wherein elements acting as a donor and an acceptor are solid-solved in B sites of the perovskite structure, wherein a relationship of (concentration of the element acting as a donor)×(valence of the element acting as a donor−4)<(concentration of the element acting as an acceptor)×(4−valence of the element acting as an acceptor) is satisfied, in a center region of each grain of the ceramic raw material powder, wherein a relationship of (concentration of the element acting as a donor)×(valence of the element acting as a donor−4)>(concentration of the element acting as an acceptor)×(4−valence of the element acting as an acceptor) is satisfied, in a circumference region of each grain of the ceramic raw material powder.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor that includes a laminated body of multiple dielectric layers and internal electrodes laminated alternately therewith. The dielectric layers contain Ba, Sr, Ti, Ca, Zr, Mg, and R, where R represents at least one element of Y, La, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb. When Ti is 100 parts by mol, the dielectric layers contain Sr at 0.5 to 3.0 parts by mol; Ca at 3 to 15 parts by mol; Sr at 0.05 to 3.0 parts by mol; Mg at 0.01 to 0.0 9 parts by mol; and R at 2.5 to 8.4 parts by mol.

A multilayer ceramic capacitor includes a multilayer body including a plurality of dielectric layers and a plurality of internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers and the internal electrodes are stacked alternately; and external electrodes provided on end surfaces of the multilayer body and electrically connected to the internal electrodes, wherein the dielectric layers each include main crystal grains including calcium and/or strontium, and zirconium; and an additive component including lithium, the internal electrodes include copper, and the dielectric layers have lithium concentrations with a standard deviation of about 1.03 atomic percent or less in the thickness direction.

A ceramic-wound-capacitor includes a first-electrically-conductive-layer, a dielectric-layer, a second-electrically-conductive-layer, and a protective-coating. The dielectric-layer is formed of lead-lanthanum-zirconium-titanate (PLZT). The protective-coating has a thickness of less than ten micrometers (10 μm) and provides electrical isolation between the first-electrically-conductive-layer and the second-electrically-conductive-layer of the ceramic-wound-capacitor. A method for fabricating the ceramic-wound-capacitor includes the steps of feeding a carrier-strip, depositing a sacrificial layer, depositing a first-electrically-conductive-layer, depositing a dielectric-layer, and depositing a second-electrically-conductive-layer to form an arrangement coupled to the carrier-strip by the sacrificial-layer, separating the arrangement from the carrier-strip and sacrificial-layer, creating an exposed-surface of the first-electrically-conductive-layer, applying a protective-coating to the exposed-surface of the first-electrically-conductive-layer, winding the arrangement with the protective-coating to form a ceramic-wound-capacitor, where the protective-coating is in direct contact with the first-electrically-conductive-layer and the second-electrically-conductive-layer of the ceramic-wound-capacitor.

A method of manufacturing a ferroelectric element includes forming an insulating film on one side of a metal substrate by an electron beam (EB) vapor deposition method or a sputtering method; forming a metal film on the insulating film by the sputtering method; and forming a ferroelectric film on the metal film by a sol-gel method. The metal substrate includes iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni), and a content of the nickel (Ni) is greater than or equal to 30% and less than or equal to 40%.

A multi-layer ceramic capacitor includes a first region, a second region, a multi-layer unit, and a side margin. In the first region, crystal grains including intragranular pores are dispersed. In the second region, crystal grains including intragranular pores are not dispersed. The multi-layer unit includes ceramic layers that are laminated in a first direction and include the second region, and internal electrodes disposed between the ceramic layers. The side margin covers the multi-layer unit from a second direction orthogonal to the first direction and includes a region, the region being adjacent to the multi-layer unit and including the first region.

The object of the present invention is to provide the dielectric ceramic composition having good characteristics even under the high electric field intensity, and particularly good IR characteristic and the high temperature accelerated lifetime. The dielectric ceramic composition according to the present invention comprises a main component comprising a perovskite type compound shown by a compositional formula (Ba.sub.1-x-ySr.sub.xCa.sub.y).sub.m(Ti.sub.1-zZr.sub.z)O.sub.3 (note that, said “m”, “x”, “y” and “z” all show a mol ratio, and each satisfies 0.94≦m≦1.1, 0≦x≦0.2, 0≦y≦0.2, 0.06≦z<0.2), a first sub component comprising oxides of a rare earth element R (note that, R is any one selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu), a second sub component comprising oxides of Mg, a third sub component comprising oxides at least one element M selected from the group consisting of Mn, Cr, Co and Fe, a fourth sub component as a sintering agent, a ratio of the first sub component in terms of oxides (RO.sub.3/2) is 8 to 20 mol, a ratio of the second sub component in terms of oxides (MgO) is 3 to 15 mol, a ratio of the third sub component in terms of oxides (MO) is 0.6 to 2.0 mol, with respect to 100 mol of said main component; and when a content of the first sub component is R mol, a content of the second sub component is M mol, and a content of the third sub component is N mol with respect to 100 mol of said main component, then 1.0≦R(M+N)≦2.4 is satisfied.

A dielectric ceramic composition has good characteristics even under the high electric field intensity, and particularly good IR characteristic and the high temperature accelerated lifetime. The dielectric ceramic composition has a main component having a perovskite type compound shown by a compositional formula (Ba.sub.1-x-ySr.sub.xCa.sub.y).sub.m(Ti.sub.1-zZr.sub.z)O.sub.3, a first sub component having oxides of a rare earth element R, a second sub component as a sintering agent, wherein the dielectric particles has dielectric particles having high diffusion rate of the rare earth element, preferably of a complete solid solution particle, and when a concentration of Ti atom in the diffusion phase is 100 atom %, then an average concentration of the rare earth element R in the diffusion phase is 5 atom % or more, and an average concentration of Zr in the diffusion phase is 10 atom % or more.