PIEZOELECTRIC CERAMIC MULTILAYER ELEMENT

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem in the conventional technology that, a piezoelectric ceramic multilayer element is sintered at about 1,100°C or higher in the air, thus only noble metal having a high melting temperature can be used as an internal electrode because there is a risk of oxidization with base metal, so that a silver-palladium alloy including palladium of less than 40% can be used in ordinary cases, but, this connects to a high material cost, and however, the low melting temperature of an internal electrode material requires a ceramic material having a relatively low sintering temperature as well.SOLUTION: According to this invention, a nonconductive sintering assistant is added to a fundamental material, and an internal electrode comprises, as the main material component, silver, advantageously, pure silver, or a nonconductive material component and/or a metal alloy or a metal oxide mixture.