Parametric Design Studies of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors for Enhanced Reliability Under Mechanical Stress in Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs), composed of alternating layers of nickel electrodes and BaTiO3 dielectric, are critical electronic components in electric vehicles (EVs). This study focuses on optimizing MLCC design for EV applications by analyzing a 3225-size MLCC with 361 layers using a text-based modeling approach. Key design parameters, including termination length (TL) and Cu pad width (CPW), were identified as critical for reducing mechanical stress. Experimental validation through board-flex tests confirmed that increasing TL and reducing CPW effectively minimize crack formation, which aligns with numerical analysis. The findings provide practical guidelines for improving MLCC durability in EVs, to help develop more robust capacitors capable of enduring the demanding conditions of automotive environments.

Keywords

• Board-flex
• electric vehicle (EV)
• finite element method (FEM)
• multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC)
• reliability