Method of manufacturing multilayer ceramic electronic component

1. A method of manufacturing a multilayer ceramic electronic component, comprising:

preparing an elastic punching material and a member having a sheet for forming an external electrode above the elastic punching material, the sheet comprising a conductive material;

stacking ceramic sheets to form a ceramic body, the ceramic sheets having internal electrode patterns formed on dielectric layers, the internal electrode patterns forming internal electrodes, the ceramic sheets being stacked such that internal electrodes are disposed to face each other with respective dielectric layers interposed therebetween;

pressing and adhering the ceramic body to the sheet to attach the sheet to a first end surface of the ceramic body; and

forming the external electrode on the first end surface of the ceramic body in a length direction by cutting the sheet using the elastic punching material.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

attaching a release film to the elastic punching material; and

attaching the sheet to the release film.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the release film is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein forming the external electrode comprising forming the external electrode up to corner portions of the ceramic body.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after forming the external electrode on the end surface of the ceramic body,

preparing a member having an elastic pressing material above a surface plate; and

heating the surface plate to thereby extend the external electrode to band portions of the ceramic body.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the elastic pressing material is a pressing rubber.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein 0.4≤T 3 /T 1 ≤1.0 in which T 3 is a thickness of the external electrode in a corner portion of the ceramic body and T 1 is a thickness of the external electrode in a central region of the ceramic body in a thickness direction.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein 0.8≤T 2 /T 1 ≤1.2 in which T 1 is a thickness of the external electrode in a central region of the ceramic body in a thickness direction and T 2 is a thickness of the external electrode at a point at which an uppermost internal electrode in the thickness direction is positioned.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

forming one or more plating layers on the external electrode.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the elastic punching material is a punching rubber.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

pressing and adhering the ceramic body to the sheet to attach the sheet for forming an external electrode to a second end surface of the ceramic body opposing the first end surface; and

forming a second external electrode on the second end surface of the ceramic body in a length direction, by cutting the sheet on the second end surface of the ceramic body using an elastic punching material.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

preparing a second elastic punching material and a second member having a sheet above the second elastic punching material,

wherein the sheet attached to the second member is used as the sheet for forming an external electrode on the second end surface of the ceramic body, and

the second elastic punching material is the elastic punching material used for forming the second external electrode on the second end surface of the ceramic body.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein:

the sheet on the first end surface of the ceramic body is used as the sheet for forming an external electrode on the second end surface of the ceramic body, and

the elastic punching material used for forming the external electrode on the first end surface of the ceramic body is the elastic punching material used for forming the second external electrode on the second end surface of the ceramic body.