PCIM Europe: Tantalum Polymer SMD Capacitors Break 100V Barrier

The introduction of its new high voltage TCJ series 3.3µF/125V (D case) tantalum polymer SMD capacitors sees AVX now exceeding the 100V milestone - almost twice the rated voltage of similar products on the market today, the company claims. These new components offer the benefits of great capacitance, high voltage, and low ESR technology in a small case size. Maintaining 20% recommended voltage derating, TCJ series capacitors significantly extend the usable voltage range. This combination enables design engineers to replace up to two of the highest rated component values in this technology by just one component.

The capacitors exhibit a benign failure mode eliminating the ignition failures that can occur in standard MnO2 tantalum technology. This makes them more robust and less likely to overload or burn. AVX’s ageing and screening processes of all parts assure high reliability. The capacitors maintain high reliability, exceeding 1% per 1000 hours at 85ºC and full-rated voltage. The SMD technology offers the advantages of small case sizes and low profiles for high-speed pick and place manufacturing processes.

Applications include telecommunications equipment operating at 48VDC, base stations, switching hubs, router and line filters, DC/DC converters supplying circuits in LED TVs and power supplies for notebook computers, as well as a host of industrial applications. Increasing the voltage range of polymer SMD tantalum capacitors enables the design of new generation 48V and higher V power supplies. The high reliability, long operation life, stability of parameters and small SMD case size of SMD tantalum capacitors cannot be matched by any other capacitor technology. AVX has adopted halogen-free compliance for the new series in accordance with the criteria for environmentally responsible product design recently adopted by other major electronics companies.