What Are Ceramic Capacitors?

Of all the types of capacitors on the market, the ceramic capacitor serves as the most commonly used in electronic circuit applications. It is preferred over other types because of its compact physical size and immense charge storage capability. Ceramic capacitors earned their name due to the fact that they use ceramic as their dielectric medium.

Known as the “workhorses” of high-frequency capacitors, ceramic capacitors are considered polarity-less capacitors as no polarity marking is available on them unlike their electrolytic capacitor counterparts. As such, ceramic capacitors find use in AC circuits, and they are generally manufactured in values from 1pF to 100μF and DC working volts from 10 volts to 5,000 volts.

Types of Capacitors

Capacitors are used in a wide range of applications, construction-wise, however, they can be subdivided into two groups: ceramic disc capacitors and multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).

Ceramic Disc Capacitor

A ceramic disc capacitor consists of two conductive discs on each side of the ceramic insulator, one attached to each plate, and coated with some inert, waterproof coating of some ceramic composition. This capacitor type is recognized for its high capacitance per unit volume and has a value of 0.01μF. More than that, it has voltage ratings up to 750 V DC and 350V with regard to AC.

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor (MLCC)

A multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) is made up of a number of ceramic layers, with barium titanate usually being the ceramic material of choice, and it is usually separated by interdigitated metal electrodes. With this construction, these capacitors are often in parallel, and the terminal contacts are taken from both ends of the structure. Furthermore, some MLCCs are designed with hundreds of ceramic layers, wherein each layer is only a few micrometers thick and each acts as a single ceramic capacitor. Keep in mind that the total capacitance of the structure is the product of the capacitance of each layer plus the total number of layers in the capacitor. MLCCs are excellent high-frequency capacitors and are often utilized for high-frequency filtering and digital logic decoupling applications.

High-K ceramic capacitors are also quite common and are exclusively considered medium-frequency capacitors. While they are unstable to time, temperature, and frequency, they remain popular for their higher capacitance-to-volume ratio when compared to that of standard ceramic capacitors. Typically, they are found in non-critical applications for bypassing, coupling, and blocking purposes. It is worth noting that voltage transients can damage them; thus, it is not recommended to use them as bypass capacitors directly across a low-impedance power supply.

Advantages and Disadvantages

In terms of advantages, ceramic capacitors are designed in any shape or size to suit a myriad of applications, and they are fairly inexpensive. While they are light in weight, they are reliable, made to withstand voltages up to 100V, and are suitable for use in hybrid integrated circuits. With regard to disadvantages, very high-voltage ceramic capacitors are not available and high capacitance values are not possible.

Conclusion

ASAP Supply Chain is a leading supplier of ceramic capacitors as well as a wide range of other electrical storage devices. At ASAP Supply Chain, we partner with top global manufacturers to bring customers superior quality offerings that have been authenticated prior to being shipped out. As our network of distribution centers stretches across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, we are equipped to offer even our most remote customers access to our inventory.

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