1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a plurality of electronic multilayer components, each of which comprises alternately stacked electrically conductive and electrically insulating layers, the electrically conductive layers being electrically connected in a periodically alternate arrangement to different edges of the multilayer component. Such components may receive application as multilayer capacitors or multilayer actuators, example.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A method as described in the opening paragraph is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,718, in which layers of electrically conductive and electrically insulating material are alternately deposited onto a flat substrate through an apertured mask, the planes of the substrate and mask being mutually parallel. In the case of the insulating material, the depository flux is directed at right angles to the plane of the mask, so that it passes through the aperture in a perpendicular direction. However, in the case of the conductive material, the depository flux is directed through the aperture at a non-perpendicular angle .alpha. with respect to the substrate surface. Moreover, although consecutive conductive layers are deposited using the same value of .alpha., the depository fluxes for such consecutive layers are not mutually parallel, but instead arise from sources located at diametrically opposite sides of the aperture. As a result, consecutive conductive layers demonstrate only a partial mutual overlap, as illustrated in FIG. 2 of the cited U.S. patent. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 4 of that patent, conductive layers (56, 56') having an odd ordinal number make mutual electrical contact at one side (62) of the component, and conductive layers (68, 68') having an even ordinal number make mutual electrical contact at an other side (76) of the component.
The known method has a number of disadvantages. In particular, the number of conductive layers which can be deposited in this manner is severely limited. This is because, as the stack of layers on the substrate increases in height, that stack will itself begin to partially eclipse the depository fluxes of conductive material, and will eventually prevent the desired mutual contact of every second conductive layer at the edge of the component. In such a scenario, the finished component will have to be provided along its sides with blanketing layers of conductive material (such as solder), for the purpose of achieving uninterrupted interconnection of the conductive layers terminating at each given side. However, because such blanketing layers are at the sides of the component, they are not directly compatible with surface mounting techniques, which require the component's electrical contacts to be located in a single plane.