A method of producing a multi-layer piezoelectric ceramic component includes: laminating ceramic green sheets to form a laminate, each of the ceramic green sheets being made of a piezoelectric ceramic material and including an electrically conductive pattern, the electrically conductive pattern including a base metal, being to be an internal electrode, and being formed on an inner side of an outer edge of the ceramic green sheet; sintering the laminate; and cutting the sintered laminate and causing the internal electrodes to be exposed.

A manufacturing method of an electronic component includes forming a body including first and second internal electrodes respectively exposed from first and second end surfaces of the body and dielectric layers disposed between the first and second internal electrodes; applying, on the first and second end surfaces of the body, a paste containing a metal powder and first glass; and sintering the body and the paste to convert the paste to first and second external electrodes including crystalline metal particles having a polyhedral shape and second glass and respectively connected to the first internal electrodes and the second internal electrodes

A hard lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic of the general structure ABO3 is specified, wherein the PZT ceramic has doping with Mn on the B sites and doping with Cu on the A sites and/or on the B sites. A process for producing a ceramic material and an electroceramic component are moreover specified.

A multilayer ceramic structure, which is to be divided into a large number of piezoelectric actuators, includes a rectangular-parallelepiped-shaped multilayer ceramic body. An upper surface opposing electrode is formed on an upper surface, a lower surface opposing electrode is formed on a lower surface and inner opposing electrodes are formed inside the multilayer ceramic body. A silt is provided in the upper surface opposing electrode. Opposing portions are provided where the upper surface opposing electrode, the inner opposing electrodes and the lower surface opposing electrode are superposed with each other when viewed in plan. The slit is provided in the upper surface opposing electrode in a portion of a region between the opposing portion and the first side surface and so as to extend in a first direction linking a first end surface and a second end surface.

A multi-level piezoelectric actuator is manufactured using wafer level processing. Two PZT wafers are formed and separately metallized for electrodes. The metallization on the second wafer is patterned, and holes that will become electrical vias are formed in the second wafer. The wafers are then stacked and sintered, then the devices are poled as a group and then singulated to form nearly complete individual PZT actuators. Conductive epoxy is added into the holes at the product placement step in order to both adhere the actuator within its environment and to complete the electrical via thus completing the device. Alternatively: the first wafer is metallized; then the second wafer having holes therethrough but no metallization is stacked and sintered to the first wafer; and patterned metallization is applied to the second wafer to both form electrodes and to complete the vias. The devices are then poled as a group, and singulated.

Textured PMN-PZT fabricated by templated grain growth (TGG) method has a piezoelectric coefficient (d) of 3 to 5 times that of its random counterpart. By combining this TGG method with low-temperature co-firing ceramics (LTCC) techniques, co-fired multilayer textured piezoelectric ceramic materials with inner electrodes were produced at a temperature as low as 925 C., which silver could be used. Trilayer PMN-PZT ceramics prepared by this method show a strain increase of 2.5 times, a driving voltage decrease of 3 times, and an equivalent piezoelectric coefficient (d*) improvement of 10 to 15 times that of conventional random ceramic counterparts. Further, a co-fired magnetostrictive/piezoelectric/magnetostrictive laminate structure with silver inner electrode was also synthesized. The integration of textured piezoelectric microstructure with the cost-effective low-temperature co-fired layered structure achieves strong magnetoelectric coupling. These new materials have promising applications including as actuators, ultrasonic transducers, and use in energy harvesters.

A method of forming an electronic structural element having a stack including first and second electrode layers arranged alternatively with material layers is disclosed. A stack is formed with the first electrode layers projecting beyond a first lateral side of the stack and the second electrode layers spaced radially inward from the first lateral side. A first contacting structure that contacts each first electrode layer is applied directly to the first side of the stack, which contacting structure embeds such the projecting first electrode layers in an electrically conductive manner. A second contacting structure is formed by exposing the first and second electrode layers at a second side of the stack, forming, by an additive method, a solvent-free insulating structure that electrically insulates the first electrode layers, and applying an electrically conductive material over the solvent-free insulating structure to form the second contacting structure that contacts each second electrode layer.

A multilayer piezoelectric element includes a ceramic body formed by a piezoelectric ceramic, and having first and second end face facing a longitudinal direction, first and second principal faces facing a thickness direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction. A pair of external electrodes cover the first and second end faces, extend from the first and second end faces onto the first principal face via ridge parts connecting the end faces with the principal faces, and project in the thickness direction on the first principal face. Multiple internal electrodes are stacked inside the ceramic body and are connected alternately to the pair of external electrodes along the thickness direction. A surface electrode is provided on at least one of the first and second principal faces, and connected to the external electrode different from the one to which the internal electrode adjacent in the thickness direction is connected.

A piezoelectric ceramic that contains an alkali niobate compound as its main ingredient. The alkali niobate compound has a perovskite crystal structure represented by A.sub.mBO.sub.3 and contains an alkali metal. There exists Sn in part of site A, and Zr in part of site B. A radial distribution function obtained from a K-edge X-ray absorption spectrum of Sn has a first peak intensity P1 at a first distance from a Sn atom and a second peak intensity P2 at a second distance from the Sn atom. The second distance is greater than the first distance, and the peak intensity ratio P1/P2 is 2.7 or less.

A piezoelectric element includes a piezoelectric material layer and an electrode layer, wherein the piezoelectric material layer and the electrode layer are stacked on top of each other, the piezoelectric material layer includes a barium titanate-based material, and two coercive fields Ec1 and Ec2 of the piezoelectric element have the same sign and satisfy (|Ec2||Ec1|)8 kV/cm.