Using highly accelerated life test to study insulation reliability of multi-layer ceramic capacitors sintered at different temperatures

With the developments of the electronic industry, efforts to achieve high DC insulating reliability are underway to improve the mean time to failure (MTTF) of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). However, there are few studies on appropriate measuring methods to evaluate their different reliability characteristics quantificationally. This study measured different reliability characteristics of BaTiO3-based multilayer ceramic capacitors sintered at three different temperatures with highly accelerated life tests (HALTs). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, two-parameter Weibull fitting, and a new method using a stud genetic algorithm were used to calculate their MTTF in HALT conditions, and the comparison among them was carried out to select a proper fitting way. With the appropriate method, their MTTF at the rated condition was predicted and compared. Their conduction modes were also differentiated to explain their aging sensitivities to temperature and voltage. As a result, a proper way to evaluate the sample’s reliability characteristics with a bathtub curve was established, and the best sintering temperature for capacitance that is also the best for reliability at the rated condition was confirmed. Meanwhile, different conducting models of MLCCs were also proved to be related to their insulation stability.