As an often overlooked advantage, ceramic capacitors generally will not burst into flames for explode if you don’t treat them right. MLCCs are not only popular because they are compact with relatively high capacitance, but also because they are critical for many applications where the electrolytic type would be completely unsuitable. Without these tiny capacitor sizes, high performance, high-density boards would not be viable.
MLCCs are the smallest capacitors on the market, with packages down to 08004 (0201 metric). The surface mount ceramic capacitors can offer highly competitive capacitance ratings for their tiny size. Interestingly, if you break apart many through hole ceramic capacitors today, you might find a surface mount capacitor attached to leads under the bead! The volume of production and economies of scale that volume provides for surface mount capacitors makes it cheaper for manufacturers to simply re-package a surface mount component into a through hole package. The capacitor is usually protected from moisture and other contaminants by a thin coating.Īlthough there are through hole/leaded versions of ceramic capacitors as there always have been, it is the surface-mount type that truly shines. The higher the voltage, the greater the thickness and size of the capacitor for the same capacitance. The ceramic layers are usually very thin however, this depends on the voltage rating of the component. The ceramic is sintered at high temperatures to form the electrical and mechanical basis of the capacitor. They have multiple layers of electrodes which create the capacitance. MLCCs have a ceramic dielectric body, which is a mixture of finely ground granules of para-electric or ferroelectric materials and other components to achieve the desired parameters. Modern ceramic capacitors can be used in the place of other capacitor types for dated hardware/designs, such as electrolytic or tantalum and offer higher performance at a lower cost. Multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) are used extensively in circuits their capacitance rating can reach hundreds of microfarads (♟). In the early days, ceramic capacitors had very low capacitance, but nowadays, this is not the case. Let’s take a look at the types of capacitors, where they are used and when one is more suitable than another.Ĭeramic capacitors are one of the most popular and common types of capacitor. The price of capacitors can vary, from less than a cent to more than $100. Capacitor types, and their voltage and capacitance ratingsĬhoosing your capacitor primarily depends on your application and budget constraints. On the other hand, when choosing a capacitor for energy storage or sudden load change, current leakage can be more critical. For example, when choosing a bypass capacitor, the ESR and ESL parameters are essential.
#Surface mount capacitor code chart series
It would be best if you considered capacitance, maximum voltage, equivalent series resistance (ESR), equivalent series inductance (ESL), longevity, size, price, availability, parameters that change with temperature, and so on. Capacitance is not the only critical parameter when selecting a capacitor, and each type of capacitor is used in different applications, so sometimes making the right choice is not an easy task. In contrast, while some capacitors today might be thought of as obsolete with no practical applications compared to other capacitor types, they still have their niche applications which they excel at.Īlthough all capacitors provide capacitance - they are not all equal. Applications you would never imagine using a certain type of capacitor for in the past are perfectly reasonable today with the advances in capacitor technology. While we might think of capacitors as being a stable technology that hasn’t changed in decades, the reality is that capacitors today are very different from just a decade ago, nevermind 20 years in the past.
In this article, we’re going to look at all the different types of capacitors and where they might be used. However, capacitors are used in far more applications than just bypassing noise, and there are many more types of capacitors than only ceramic and aluminium electrolytic.
In modern electronics, you will most commonly find ceramic capacitors decoupling power supplies for almost every integrated circuit (IC) on a circuit board or aluminum electrolytic capacitors as bulk capacitance for a voltage regulator. Capacitors are one of the main components in all electronic devices and vital to their operation.