Scanning Pyroelectric Microscopy of Subsurface Dielectric Failures

Dielectric breakdown is a very important factor determining the reliability of multilayer ceramic capacitors, and its microscopy imaging is still a pending work so far. Here, a high resolution scanning pyroelectric microscopy (SPeM) is developed for direct imaging dielectric failure behavior of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) due to the combination of pyroelectric effect and scanning thermal microscopy. Subsurface dielectric-breakdown regions along the depth profile inside BaTiO3 capacitors are successfully visualized by measuring 2 omega-pyroelectric current via the frequency modulated SPeM. It provides a new approach for exploring subsurface dielectric breakdown microstructures, and for further understanding the underlying physical phenomena inside the MLCCs.