Murata soft termination capacitors reduce cracks due to board bending

When mounted on a board that is bent or flexed, either during the manufacturing process or in the field, MLCCs can develop cracks, affecting the capacitor's performance. The new 'soft' termination type reduces the risk of stress damage by applying a layer of conductive polymer within the capacitor's electrodes. It is the elasticity of the polymer that reduces the bending stress in the capacitor. In tests conducted by Murata, 'soft' termination MLCCs were soldered with 200um thick solder to a typical 1.6mm thick PCB. The board was then flexed. The soft termination versions typically did not suffer any stress damage after the board had flexed 5mm.

The terminations of standard Murata MLCCs have three layers: the innermost copper, then nickel, then tin on the outside. In the GCJ and GRJ series, after the copper layer is added, conductive polymer is applied to the outer electrode. Then the nickel and tin layers are added as normal. The process does not affect the equivalent series resistance (ESR) or current rating, so the GRJ and GCJ series capacitors have the equivalent properties as their GRM and GCM counterparts. GRJ series are available with 250V, 630V and 1KV rated voltage.