Why are alternate layers connected in parallel in a multilayer ceramic capacitor?

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Figure 1: Ferroelectric properties of barium titanate (BaTiO3). (Left) Above 120° C the structure of the BaTiO3 crystal is cubic, and there is no net polarization of charge; (right) below 120° C the structure changes to tetragonal, shifting the relative positions of the ions and causing a concentration of positive and negative charges toward opposite ends of the crystal. — capacitor dielectric and piezoelectric ceramics Figure 1: Ferroelectric properties of barium titanate (BaTiO₃). (Left) Above 120° C the structure of the BaTiO₃ crystal is cubic, and there is no net polarization of charge; (right) below 120° C the structure changes to tetragonal, shifting the relative positions of the ions and causing a concentration of positive and negative charges toward opposite ends of the crystal.

In a multilayer capacitor, alternate layers are connected in parallel to realize large capacitances within a compact device.1

By interleaving multiple dielectric and electrode layers, the design effectively stacks many individual capacitors into a single monolithic unit. Because the effective capacitance of capacitors connected in parallel is the sum of the individual capacitances ( $C = C_{1} + C_{2} + \dots + C_{n}$ ), this configuration allows for a significant increase in total energy storage capacity compared to a single-layer design, without requiring an increase in the physical footprint of the component.12