Difference Between Tantalum And Ceramic Capacitors

Comparison of multilayer ceramic and tantalum capacitors by jeffrey cain ph d.

Difference between tantalum and ceramic capacitors.

A molded tantalum capacitor top and a microchip style tantalum capacitor bottom ceramic capacitors. Tantalum are low voltage devices suitable for computer and power supply applications. High and stable capacitor values that are not affected by applied voltage. Figure 2a 2b.

In contrast to tantalum capacitors ceramic capacitors have less overall plate area and significantly thicker layers but compensate for such deficiencies by using dielectric materials with a much higher dielectric constant. Engineers now have a choice between ceramic and tantalum when it comes to selecting capacitors with values between 0 1 22µf. The dc working voltage of tantalum chip capacitors is limited to between 4 v and 50 v. Basic differences ceramic capacitors have a multitude of dielectric types available and each of these types is characterized by their sensitivities to temperature but not to voltage or time.

Ceramic capacitor vs tantalum capacitor. Tantalum electrolytic capacitors can achieve a small capacitance while the ceramic capacitor can hardly achieve the ideal performance when the capacitance is large. Surface mount tantalum capacitors typically feature a bottom electrode structure. They overlap with tantalum capacitors in capaci.

The difference between tantalum capacitors and ceramic capacitors is that under the same capacity tantalum capacitors have a much smaller volume and tantalum capacitors have lower esr than electrolytic capacitors have a longer life and are resistant to high temperatures. No piezo electric properties that may result in circuit noise. A ceramic cap is a disc type that has a piece of ceramic wafer between the plates. Ceramic capaci tors constructed with these dielectrics offer moderate dielec tric constants with moderate temperature and voltage sensi tivities.

This paper compares the x7r x6s or x5r dielectric types of ce ramic capacitors with tantalum capacitors. Tantalum capacitors and ceramic capacitors also have different uses. Tantalum capacitors can be used as coupling and the frequency range of such circuits as filter oscillatory bypass is large while ceramic capacitors are mostly used in high frequency circuits. A tantalum cap is a form of dry electrolytic cap.

Ceramics can withstand high voltage and high frequency applications so they are quite common in radio equipment. Depending on the application the capacitor type is chosen. Tantalum capacitors configured with electrodes on the bottom of the package are not susceptible to shorts even when mounted close together facing each other. Tantalum capacitors are polarized devices so correct polarity must be maintained on the pc board.