The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 19, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2000
Hideaki Niimi, Hikone, JP;
Tatsuya Matsunaga, Shiga-ken, JP;
Abstract
A monolithic electronic element is fabricated from a semiconducting ceramic, which element can be produced through firing at 1000° C. or lower and exhibits a satisfactory PTC characteristic even when the element is produced through reoxidation at low temperature. The monolithic electronic element includes a sintered laminate formed of alternatingly stacked semiconducting ceramic layers and internal electrode layers and external electrodes formed on the sintered laminate, wherein the semiconducting ceramic layers comprise sintered barium titanate containing boron oxide; an oxide of at least one metal selected from among barium, strontium, calcium, lead, yttrium and a rare earth element; the boron oxide being incorporated in an amount, as reduced to atomic boron (B), satisfying the following relationships: 0.001≦B/&bgr;≦0.50 and 0.5≦B/(&agr;−&bgr;)≦10.0, wherein &agr; represents the total number of atoms of barium site elements, and &bgr; represents the total number of atoms of titanium site elements.