Sustainable Aqueous Processing of High-Performance Dielectric Ceramic Films for MLCCs
Keywords:
multilayer ceramic capacitors, aqueous tape casting, dielectric ceramics, barium titanate, sustainable manufacturing, reliability, circular economy, critical materials, policyAbstract
Multilayer ceramic capacitors have become foundational components in modern electronics, electric vehicles, communications infrastructure, and energy conversion systems. Their performance depends on thin dielectric ceramic films that must simultaneously deliver high permittivity, low loss, high breakdown strength, and long-term reliability. Conventional manufacturing often relies on organic solvents for tape casting, which introduces environmental, occupational, and supply-chain burdens. Aqueous processing offers a compelling alternative, but its adoption at industrial scale depends on more than replacing one solvent with water. It requires rethinking slurry chemistry, binder architecture, drying and sintering pathways, electrode compatibility, metrology, factory infrastructure, and governance arrangements. This paper examines sustainable aqueous processing of high-performance dielectric ceramic films for multilayer ceramic capacitors from a system-level perspective. It analyzes the structural trade-offs among dielectric performance, reliability, manufacturability, and environmental impact. It considers how aqueous tape casting affects particle dispersion, green body homogeneity, binder burnout, grain size control, core-shell dielectric design, and base-metal electrode co-firing. It then discusses scale-up, deployment, circularity, critical materials, fairness, and policy implications. The central argument is that aqueous processing can support more sustainable capacitor manufacturing only when it is designed as an integrated socio-technical infrastructure rather than a isolated materials substitution. Success will depend on robust process control, transparent life-cycle accounting, resilient supply chains, and governance mechanisms that align industrial incentives with environmental and social outcomes.
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