New tantalum capacitors in power supply applications

J.D. Prymak
Conference Record of 1998 IEEE Industry Applications Conference. Thirty-Third IAS Annual Meeting (Cat. No.98CH36242)  
The capacitance range for tantalum capacitors spans from singular microfarads (uFd) through a thousand microfarads. It is an electrolytic type of capacitor that can utilize either a liquid type of electrolyte or a solid state material as the cathode connection. The anode construction utilizes the high porosity of the pressed tantalum material to create an enormous amount of surface area to produce the highest volumetric efficiency of any of the commercial capacitors available. In the solid
more » ... devices, these can be readily packaged in a molded plastic package that yields a mechanically consistent surface mount package for high speed automated board processes. Circuitry that utilizes some of the newer switch mode power supply designs (SMPS), requires capacitance values for their filter circuits that lie well within the capacitance range of tantalum capacitors. With the volumetric efficiency, capacitance range and surface mount packaging, the tantalum capacitor has become a standard device for this application. certed efforts as well as through a natural refinement of materials, processes, and designs. For the standard commercial product, the three ohms per volt recommendation was soon dropped to one ohm per volt, and the standard line today is 0.1 ohm per volt.
doi:10.1109/ias.1998.730289 fatcat:n2yyboc2ejd77goixsxr3li36u