Introduction to Capacitors.

By Mike MacLeod.

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

An Introduction to Capacitors
Copyright Mike MacLeod 2003.

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission of the author.

This edition: 2012

E-ISBN: 35E54525-D4E3-4640-B26F-7BFA8BF9CA47

Printed and published by Mike MacLeod, Benoni. South Africa. cammhifi@gmail.com

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

Introduction to Capacitors.
By Mike MacLeod.

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

1 3 5
Polyester C280

2 4

+ 22uf +
16v

MAC ,1 J 250

104 K

33

.33 100v

10uf m

2u2 250

22 uF
25v

220uf 63v

Axial Electrolytics band denotes negative lead

Tantalum band denotes positive lead

Multilayer Resin dipped Miniature Disc Polyester monolithic Ceramic polyester ceramic layer ceramic film

Metalized polyester Radial

Capacitors: Fall into two categories namely: electrostatic and electrolytic. An electrostatic capacitor consists of two conductors or plates separated by an insulator called the dielectric and stores a charge as an electrostatic shield between these two plates. It's the type of dielectric that defines the kind of capacitor such as mica, polyester, glass etc. and the charge is
Plate Dialectric

Plate

Electroly tic Tantalum

Electrostatic

Variable

measured in Farads which is a rather large quantity, so we use sub-multiples like: F, nF, pF where: F = micro Farads = 10-6 nF = nano Farads = 10-9 and pF = pico Farads = 10-12 .
Electrostatic Electrolytic

Film

Mica

Ceramic

Glass

Aluminium

Tantalum

Polyester

Disc

Tubular

Chip

Wet Foil

Wet Foil

Polypropolene leads Polystyrene Chip Polycarbonate surface mount Wet Slug Dry Slug

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

Film capacitors: A relatively large family of capacitors, they differ pretty much just in their dielectric properties. Available capacitance ranges from 10pF - 1.5uF depending upon the actual type of capacitor. Members include polyester, metallised polyester (polyethylene terephthalate or Mylar from DuPont), polystyrene, polypropylene, polycarbonate. Temperature coefficients of selected dielectrics: Capacitor Type polyester (Mylar) polypropylene polystyrene polycarbonate Typical Temperature coefficient 600 to 900 ppm/deg. C -200 ppm/deg. C -125 ppm/deg. C +100 ppm/deg. C

Two distinct sub-families of the film capacitors are: film & foil and metallised film. There are two common methods of providing the electrode; one has a separate metal foil wound with the film dielectric, the other has a conductive film metallised onto the dielectric directly. The film and foil construction requires a thicker dielectric film to reduce the risk of pinholes and therefore is more suitable to lower capacitance values and larger case sizes. Metallised foil has self-healing properties (a very important safety factor) - arcing through a pinhole will vaporise the metallization away from the pinhole area - and can therefore utilise thinner dielectric films, which leads to higher capacitance values and smaller size. The thinnest dielectric in current use is of the order of 1.5 um. Generally, higher power and more precise applications will require film and foil, but the metallised film capacitors are very nice. Metallised paper capacitors hold a niche in high voltage applications because when arcing occurs, less carbon build-up occurs, keeping the risk of fire low. These caps are known as X-class or Y- class suppression types, used in AC applications. Note that all other caps are rated in DC volts. Look at temperature and voltage limitations to aid in trimming down your choices. Ceramic: Multi-layer Monolithic: The common form is the multi-layer or stacked ceramic (monolithic); single layer also exists (ceramic disk). Physically, the multi-layer looks like film and foil capacitors, a dielectric stuffed between metal plates. The multi-layer is marginally more expensive than the single layer. Ceramic disk: Ceramic disc capacitors are simpler to make than the monolithics. They hold a niche area as a cheaper and physically smaller (for the same capacitance value) alternative to silver mica. They are available with higher voltage ratings than monolithic. Since they only have a single slab, they are found with lower capacitance values (typical range 1.5pF to 22000pF) than the monolithic (which can have 60-80 layers), but can still get large with a noticeable increase in physical size. At the upper end, too, the tolerance and temperature coefficients get extremely large. Ceramic capacitors are separated into three common grades of dielectric. The three grades go by the following names: Class 1. C0G or NP0 (BY): best in all features except permittivity; due to the low K (dielectric constant) of the dielectric, these are physically larger than equivalent values in the other grades; also, typically range of values 4.7pF to .047uF. Typical tolerance 5%.

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

Class 2. X7R (BX): medium K dielectric - just a bit more expensive than the low grade Z5U, but improved in tolerance and temperature characteristics. Temperature coefficient is non-linear, however. Typical range of values 3300pF to .33uF. Typical tolerance 10%. Class 3. Z5U (BZ): high K dielectric - suffers from a relatively large temperature coefficient. Good points include price and size. These are the classic bypass capacitors. Typical range of values .01uF to .47uF. Typical tolerance 20%. Uses: C0G: very good capacitors; tightly specified in tolerance and temperature. Trade-off is size. X7R: notice the lack of small values; similar to cheaper film capacitors; useful for non-critical timing, coupling. Z5U: bypass, coupling - disc ceramic Silver-mica: Another stacked, low K capacitor. Mica is really the general family name (mica is the dielectric); silvered mica is just the most popular form. Good points: low ESR, temperature coefficient between 0 and +100ppm/deg. C. These are very similar to C0G ceramics. They suffer, however, from high dielectric absorption. They are popular for their high frequency characteristics (up to 500Mhz). Typical values range from 2pF to 1500pF Glass: Are manufactured by stacking layers of thin glass dielectric in a sandwich similar to mica capacitors. They are specified where temperature stability is a requirement. Not so common anymore. An electrolytic capacitor on the other hand consists of a roll of aluminium foil which forms the one

terminal and a liquid electrolyte which forms the other terminal, housed in an aluminium can.

Aluminium Electrolytic: Consist of a dielectric and an electrolyte. The electrolyte serves as the 2nd electrode. The electrolyte is not the dielectric. The dielectric is a very thin layer of oxide which is grown electro-chemically in production, the thickness of this oxide layer is in the order of .01um, much smaller than any piece of plastic or ceramic that could be used as a separator. To contact the electrolyte, another piece of foil is used, but it is the electrolyte that is truly the plate. The electrolyte is held in a porous paper spacer. The aluminium plate is finely etched, which increases the surface area, increasing the capacitance. A slab capacitor like ceramic would not benefit from this approach. The porous spacer and both plates serve to thicken a single layer, but the important distance is the dielectric Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod 6

thickness, which is, of course, extremely small. Thus, electrolytics enjoy a huge capacitance density advantage over other capacitor technologies. One limitation to this technology is its polarised nature i.e. having a positive and a negative terminal. With just a small reverse voltage, the oxide breaks down and current will flow freely. Another by-product of this technology is the reduction in capacitance as you approach the working voltage of the capacitor. This is caused by a growth in the thickness of the oxide layer as a high voltage is placed across the capacitor. All the common aluminium electrolytics are prone to have the electrolyte dry out. This means that their lifetime is shorter than other capacitors, anywhere between 3 and 20 years depending upon the quality of the line. If you really want your design to last, check out the ageing information for your aluminium electrolytic. There are two casing styles: radial where the two leads come out of the same end (the cap stands vertically) with the longer lead being the positive one and axial where each end has a lead (cap lies horizontal). A safety valve is fitted in the end that has the rubber seal and allows pressure to dissipate when the rated voltage is exceeded. Radial caps also have an indentation-like cross on their tops which will crack open to relieve the pressure (read as: explode). Typical values range from 0.1 uF to 22000uF with voltage ratings from 16v to 450v (dc). The negative lead is denoted by a black line down the body or --- signs down the body and is the shorter of the two leads. Important parameters to consider and their effects are: ESR (power dissipation in the capacitor and useful frequency range), tolerance (ability to plug it into frequency sensitive circuits), temperature/ageing drift (capacitance changes in sensitive circuits), ESL (useful frequency range). Another type of capacitor is the variable kind, consisting of small printed circuit board mounting ones or the familiar tuning cap used in radios which uses air as it's dielectric. Bi-polar electrolytics: are available when you need to have large capacitance but cannot maintain a unipolar bias. Bi-polar electrolytics generally suffer from larger ESR and Rdc than other capacitors. They are also used in loudspeaker crossover networks. To connect two polarised caps in a bipolar configuration, connect them back to back by joining the positive leads together. Tantalum Electrolytic: Comes in both wet and dry electrolytes. The dry, or solid tantalum is the most common, and can't truly be called an electrolytic capacitor. Solid tantalums use manganese dioxide as the second terminal. The capacitor starts with solid Ta powder which is worked onto Ta wire. The pellet is immersed in an acid bath and attached to a DC supply. Current flow encourages the Ta2O5 oxide growth. The MnO2 layer is created by dipping the pellet into Mn(NO3)2 solution and then heated. The rest of the processing is just to get a wire connected. The solid tantalum shares the extremely thin dielectric, high capacitance behaviour of the aluminium electrolytic with an added bonus that since it is dry, its lifetime in much longer, and it also has a lower leakage current (higher Rdc). Also, tantalum capacitors can tolerate a little reverse voltage (as much as 15% of the working voltage according to some sources). Typical values range from 0.047uF to 330uF. Tantalums also do not come in as high a working voltage rating (typical max voltage = 50V) as aluminium electrolyte's (available with at least 450V, probably higher). The positive lead is denoted by a thin line or +++ signs on the body and is the longer of the two leads. Terminology: ESR: Equivalent series resistance. A resistive element of the capacitor model found in both the ac and dc domains. Contributing factors: electrodes, leads, dielectric. This value can change with frequency, time, etc. ESL: Equivalent series inductance. An inductive element of the capacitor model; effect only seen in ac or transient domains. Contributing factors: electrodes, leads.

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

Rdc: a dc leakage current through the dielectric. This value varies with temperature and age. Rac: a parameter to describe ac losses in the dielectric; may vary nonlinearly with frequency and temperature. Rd, Cd: parameters to describe dielectric absorption. Dielectric absorption: phenomenon where after a capacitor has changed value, stored charge will migrate out of the dielectric over time, thus changing the voltage value of the capacitor. K: relative permittivity, dielectric constant. Usage notes: A power supply provides low impedance at low frequencies. Local bypass capacitors provide low impedance at higher frequencies. The best way to get very low inductance is to parallel a lot of small capacitors. Odd capacitance values can be made up by connecting them in parallel or series. Lead inductance acts like an inductor in series with a capacitor. ESR acts like a resistor in series with a capacitor. Together they degrade a capacitor's effectiveness as a bypass element. For large-valued capacitors, smaller packages have higher series inductance and ESR than larger packages. Connecting capacitors in parallel lowers the ESR. Several small value electrolytics connected in series\parallel to make up one large value, work out cheaper than buying one single large value. The current ripple rating is also higher. This applies to power supplies. In audio, add a small value polyester (100nF) in parallel with electrolytics for better performance. Capacitor performance and tolerance varies widely. Measure them for accurate results. Higher-dielectric-constant materials pack more capacitance into a smaller space but have poor temperature coefficients and ageing instability. Aluminium electrolytics do not work well in cold applications. Failure in capacitors is a statistical phenomenon, accelerating at high voltages (voltages near the voltage rating). Therefore keep a safety margin of about 85% i.e. for a 100v cap do not exceed 85v. Capacitors in series get their voltage ratings added together allowing their use in higher voltage situations i.e. two 50 volt 100F caps in series can be used as a single 100v cap, of 50f. Amongst similar sized capacitors, the physically larger one generally has features which might make it desirable (voltage rating, stability, higher tolerance, etc.). Part Numbers: There are a couple of ways in which manufacturers mark their products and the most important thing is that all numbers are in pico Farads unless otherwise marked, the following examples reflect this: 104k. This system uses the base ten (the first two numbers) followed by the third number representing the amount of zero's to add on to this. Therefore we interpret 104K as 10 followed by 0000 (4 zero's) which = 100 000pF or if we convert to F we multiply by 10 -6 which is another way of saying move the decimal point six places to the left. Our value is now 0.1F. The K refers to the tolerance of the cap, 10%. See table for other figures: F = 1% G = 2% H = 2.5% J = 5% K = 10% M = 20% C = +-0.25pF

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

33. Disc ceramic caps are often marked with just a plain figure, here reflecting a value of 33pF. .1F. Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers just ignore the early conventions and print the figure as shown and sometimes it's difficult to see the decimal point. The value here is 0.1 F or more commonly 100nF. 47 100. Same as above but this time the represents the decimal point denoting 470nF. Another example could be 47 which is 4.7F. The 100 is the dc voltage rating. 100n 68J Here we have 100n 68v at 5%.

Capacitor Values
1,000pF 1,200pF 1,500pF 1,800pF 2,200pF 2,700pF 3,300pF 3,900pF 4,700pF 1n0 1n2 1n5 1n8 2n2 2n7 3n3 3n9 4n7 .001uF .0012uF .0015uF .0018uF .0022uF .0027uF .0033uF .0039uF .0047uF 5,600pF 6,800pF 8,200pF 10,000pF 12,000pF 15,000pF 22,000pF 33,000pF 47,000pF 5n6 .0056uF 6n8 .0068uF 8n2 .0082uF 10n .01uF 12n .012uF 15n .015uF 22n .022uF 33n .033uF 47n .047uF 68,000pF 68n .068uF 100,000pF l00n .1uF 120,000pF 120n .12uF 150,000pF 150n .15uF 220,000pF 220n .22uF 330,000pF 330n .33uF 470,000pF 470n .47uF 680,000pF 680n .68uF 1,000,000pF 1000n 1Uf

An older system known as the C280 colour coding system for polyester caps has a series of 5 bands across the body like a liquorice all sorts sweet. The colours are the same as the resistor four band colour coding system with the first and second band denoting the value and the third being the multiplier giving the value as pF. The fourth band is the tolerance and the fifth is the maximum working voltage. These colours differ from the resistor colour coding, the following refers: Band4 20% 10% 5% 2.5% 2% 1% Band5 20v 250v 400v

Black White Green Blue Orange Red Brown Yellow

Since the tolerance on these caps was either 20% or 10% and 400v not being common, the last two colours were often black and red or white and red. An even earlier system used 5 dots where the first dot represented the temperature coefficient and the last four equivalent to the standard 4 band resistor colour coding, the value also in pF. To summarise: Low K caps are best for stability in critical timing circuits due to their low drift as temperature changes. Examples are: multilayer monolithic ceramic (class 1 COG), polystyrene, polypropylene, silver mica. Choosing a cap will depend on which group the value falls under and price, as some caps could be quite expensive. Ordinary disc ceramic caps or resin dipped ceramics (high K) are okay in non critical circuits or for supply rail decoupling, usually 100nF. Also fit them as close as possible to the positive power pin of digital i.c's (I use them with all i.c's, opamps included). Opamps in audio applications usually get a 22pF disc ceramic across the output pin and inverting input

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

pin (in parallel with the gain resistor) for bandwidth limiting. Electrolytic's are usually used in power supplies or for power rail filtering where a 100nF resin dipped disc ceramic is placed in parallel with the electrolytic. Polyester are good general purpose caps, very good in high voltage situations. Some people prefer them in audio circuits in place of electrolytics, especially for dc blocking , but their physical size can be a problem, here I prefer tantalum caps, usually 2 2F (2.2F). For AC mains filtering/decoupling use only X- or Y-rated caps, usually 10nF or 100nF which are rated at 250vac. It is best if one looked through a catalogue, Maplin for instance have a nice index for their caps, and check the types available in the value you want , see if it will fit on your board and decide if the quality is right for the application and lastly see if the price is right. See Also: Constructors Mate a guide to electronics. Email: cammhifi@gmail.com

Copyright 2012 Mike MacLeod

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