Hi Ingemar, I just recently joined the throngs of the unemployed after not surviving a RIF (reduction of force) as there was not much need for a scientist when times are tight in power supplies. Finished up determining what it takes to make reliable (process, components & alloys) power supplies to meet RoHS for both SMT and through hole assemblies for telecomn and out the door you go. This gives me plenty of time to think about and answer your question in excruciating detail. I have not seen nor hear about a AgCuNiPbSn termination. Common termination structures include Cu in a glass frit plated w/nickel barrier and then Sn or SnPb layer. Copper termination is use in base metal electrode systems like low fire NP0 ceramics where these is a Cu electrode or a Ni electrode used in high k dielectric systems. Copper is adjacent to nickel in the periodic table and has excellent solid solubility resulting is very low ESR. This is why BME (base metal electrode) capacitors have ESR values 1/10 that of precious metal systems. Yes the answer as to why precious metal electrodes systems have higher ESR is hidden later in the text. Precious metal electrode systems use Ag or PdAg (older terminations) in a glass frit where the metal flakes make point contact to a Ag or PdAg electrode. A third termination combination is to add a compliant conductive polymer layer between the termination metal glass frit attached to the ceramic body and is then nickel plated with either Sn or PbSn for solderability preservation. Seifer out of the UK and AVX offer this type of termination and I suspect other manufacturers will follow. If the termination metal order was CuAgNiPbAg then that does make sense as it is the flexible termination. If the metal order is AgCuNiPbSn then I am not familiar with it. If you have a base metal part then NiCuAgNiPbSn would be consistent with a silver filler polymer flexible termination system. The image on Steve's web site is a classical BME nickel electrode, copper glass frit w/nickel barrier and solder solderability preservation. I do get long winded at time but hopefully all were not bored with the details but it was fun for me. John Maxwell At 11:55 PM 4/10/2005, you wrote: >John, need immediate advice from you, as you are being very familiar with >ceramic caps. >Got problem with 0603 100nF/16VDC/X7R, Rins > 10-100 kOhms, sometimes >lower. Failure rate 1-2%. >Q: Terminals AgCuNiSnPb instead of usual AgNiSnPb. Never seen Cu before. >Why Cu? >Thx in advance >Ingemar Hernefjord >Ericsson Microwave Systems > >--------------------------------------------------- >Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e >To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in >the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet >To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to >[log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) >To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to >[log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest >Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives >Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 >for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or >847-615-7100 ext.2815 >----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------