Patent ID: 7503993

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic element, comprising the steps of: preparing a composite sheet by sequential performance of the following steps a)-j) in that order; a) applying ceramic slurry to a base film using a die coater for forming a ceramic green sheet; b) applying conductive paste to an upper surface of the ceramic green sheet by gravure printing for forming internal electrodes; c) drying the conductive paste to form internal electrodes; d) applying step-smoothing ceramic paste by gravure printing onto the upper surface of the ceramic green sheet in regions other than those in which the internal electrodes are formed; e) drying the step-smoothing ceramic paste; f) applying ceramic slurry to the internal electrodes and the dried ceramic paste using a die coater to form another ceramic green sheet; g) applying conductive paste to an upper surface of the another green sheet by gravure printing for forming internal electrodes; h) drying the conductive paste applied in step g) to form internal electrodes; i) applying step-smoothing ceramic paste by gravure printing onto the upper surface of the another ceramic green sheet in regions other than those in which the internal electrodes are formed; and j) drying the step-smoothing ceramic paste applied in step i); preparing a laminate body by laminating a plurality of the composite sheets to each other; and firing the laminate body for forming a sintered body for a multilayer ceramic electronic element; wherein the internal electrodes are smoothed during the gravure printing of the step-smoothing ceramic paste by pressure applied to the internal electrodes by a gravure roller and a pressure roller; the base film is a long base film; and the gravure printing is performed using a plurality of rollers for conveying, the gravure roller, and the pressure roller.