The present invention can provide a lead-free piezoelectric material having a high piezoelectric constant in the room temperature range. The present invention for this purpose is a piezoelectric material including a main component containing a perovskite metal oxide represented by following general formula (1),
Ba.sub.a(Ti.sub.1-xZr.sub.x)O.sub.3(1)
where 0.02x0.13 and 0.986a1.02, a first auxiliary component containing Mn, and a second auxiliary component containing trivalent Bi, wherein an amount of the contained Mn is 0.0020 moles or more and 0.0150 moles or less relative to 1 mole of the metal oxide, and an amount of the contained Bi is 0.00042 moles or more and 0.00850 moles or less relative to 1 mole of the metal oxide.

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.

The present invention provides a piezoelectric material not containing lead and potassium, showing satisfactory insulation and piezoelectricity, and having a high Curie temperature. The invention relates to a piezoelectric material includes a main component containing a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by Formula (1): (Na.sub.xBa.sub.1-y)(Nb.sub.yTi.sub.1-y)O.sub.3 (wherein, 0.80?x?0.94 and 0.83?y?0.94), and an additive component containing at least one element selected from Mn and Ni, wherein the content of the Ni is 0 mol or more and 0.05 mol or less based on 1 mol of the perovskite-type metal oxide, and the content of the Mn is 0 mol or more and 0.005 mol or less based on 1 mol of the perovskite-type metal oxide.

There are provided a multi-layer piezoelectric element in which an increase of oxygen vacancies in an electric-field concentration part of piezoelectric layers is suppressed and a decrease of an amount of displacement is suppressed, as well as to provide a piezoelectric actuator, an injection device and a fuel injection system provided with the multi-layer piezoelectric element. A multi-layer piezoelectric element includes a stacked body composed of piezoelectric layers and internal electrode layers which are stacked on each other, and a resin which evolves OH.sup. when being heated. Accordingly, it is possible to obtain a multi-layer piezoelectric element in which an increase of oxygen vacancies in an electric-field concentration part of piezoelectric layers is suppressed and a decrease of an amount of displacement is suppressed.

A piezoelectric device is a fired body including a body part 10 and external electrodes 21 and 22. A surface of the side electrode 22 is comprised only of a material for the side electrode 22. On a surface of the surface electrode 21 or a surface of a connection portion where the surface electrode 21 and the side electrode 22 are connected to each other, a protrusion h extending along a direction along which the connection portion extends and sticking out in a thickness direction of the surface electrode 21 is provided. A region, on the surface of the surface electrode 21, farther from the connection portion than the protrusion h is interspersed with a plurality of exposed portions in each of which a surface of a ceramic material having lower solder wettability than a material for the surface electrode 21 is exposed.

A method for manufacturing multilayer components, and a multilayer component are disclosed. The method includes manufacturing a body comprising electrically conductive layers and dielectric layers which are stacked one above the other, wherein the body comprises at least one cavity and at least partially filling the cavity with an insulation material using capillary forces. The method further includes after partially filling the cavity, singulating the body into at least two base bodies and applying a passivation layer to surfaces of the singulated base bodies, wherein the passivation layer comprises a material which is different from the insulation material.

A method of producing a ceramic component includes a) providing a main body having internal electrodes, outer edges of which are located on at least one first outer surface of the main body, b) contacting the first outer surface of the main body with a composition including an electrophoretically mobile insulating material and electrophoretically depositing the insulating material on outer edges of the internal electrodes on the first outer surface of the main body, and c) producing an insulating layer from the insulating material on the outer edges of the internal electrodes.

An article composed of sintered particles is produced by depositing ligand-containing particles on a substrate, then scanning the substrate with an electron beam that generates sufficient surface and subsurface heating to substantially eliminate the ligands and melt or sinter the particles into a cohesive film with superior charge carrier properties. The particles are sintered or melted together to form a polycrystalline layer that is substantially ligand-free to form, for example, a film such as a continuous polycrystalline film. The scanning operation is conducted so as to heat treat a controllably localized region at and below a surface of the particles by selecting a rate of deposited energy at the region to exceed a rate of conduction away from the substrate.

There is provided a multilayer ceramic electronic component including: a ceramic body in which internal electrodes containing a first electrode material and dielectric layers are alternately disposed; external electrodes provided on outer surfaces of the ceramic body and containing a second electrode material; and diffusion parts each disposed to be connected to one end of the internal electrode and the external electrode and containing the first electrode material and the second electrode material mixed with each other, wherein the diffusion part includes an internal diffusion portion disposed within the ceramic body and an external diffusion portion protruding outside of the ceramic body.

Provided is a lead-free piezoelectric material having a high Curie temperature, a satisfactory mechanical quality factor, and a satisfactory Young's modulus, and a piezoelectric element and a multilayered piezoelectric element each using the piezoelectric material. The piezoelectric material contains 0.04 mol % or more to 2.00 mol % or less of Cu with respect to 1 mol of a perovskite-type metal oxide represented by the following general formula: (K.sub.vBi.sub.wBa.sub.1-v-w).sub.1-yNa.sub.x(Nb.sub.yTi.sub.1-y)O.sub.3 where relationships of 0<v0.39, 0<w0.39, 0.9w/v1.1, 0.80x0.95, and 0.85y0.95 are satisfied.