Three terminal ceramic capacitors address ADAS processor needs

The use of a three terminal capacitor as opposed to a conventional two terminal one addresses specific needs associated with the application.

The power circuit of a processor requires many decoupling capacitors to reduce that impedance, thereby suppressing fluctuation of the power voltage, and increasing stability. As the processing speed (operating frequency) of the processor increases, the control of impedance across a wide frequency band is very important and one problem is that you need dozens/hundreds of decoupling capacitors which occupy a lot of space.

The three terminal multilayer ceramic capacitor has a smaller Equivalent Series inductance (ESL) than conventional two terminal multilayer ceramic capacitors, thus reducing the overall impedance. This lowers the number of capacitors that need to be used for higher frequency bands which frees up valuable board space for other components, making it possible to reduce the PCB area required.

Making use of this characteristic has resulted in its wide adoption for smartphones and other devices where compactness and high density are needed for mounted high-speed processors. The use of three terminal multilayer ceramic capacitors in the automotive market has surged recently due to the demand for high performance processors and smaller electronics. This demand has driven the increase in high-functioning multitasking onboard equipment such as ADAS, preventive safety systems, and In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI).

Murata’s NFM18HC series capacitors provide a three terminal multilayer ceramic capacitor in the company’s smallest 1.6x0.8mm package (previous product was 2.0x1.2mm). Furthermore, it confirms to the AEC-Q200 standard for use in high quality and high reliability automobile applications, making an important contribution to further size reduction and tighter density for automotive electronics.