NICKEL POWDER, CONDUCTIVE PASTE, AND MULTILAYER ELECTRONIC COMPONENT USING SAME

摘要

A nickel powder with a mean particle size of 0.05 to 1.0 .mu.m, the nickel powder comprising a thin oxidized layer of nickel on a surface thereof and having an oxygen content of 0.3 to 3.0 wt.% and a carbon content of 100 ppm or less per specific surface area of 1 m2/g of the powder, in a weight proportion of carbon to the nickel powder of unit weight. When the powder is used for a conductive paste for forming inner electrode layers of a multilayer electronic component, it enables the decrease in the residual carbon amount after a binder removal process, thereby making it possible to obtain a multilayer ceramic electronic component with excellent electric characteristics and high reliability in which electrode layers excelling in continuity are formed without decreasing the strength and electric characteristics of the electronic component or creating structural defects.