Ceramic Capacitor

The following table shows the kind of capacitors intended for general consumer electronics.

There are various kind of ceramic capacitors. We are introducing following ceramic capacitors in our catalog.

You can find features and applications of these products in TY-COMPAS, a web application for searching and displaying specifications and characteristics of our products. Please use it for finding information of our products. The list of each product is summarized in our catalogs. Please read them as an another kind of information source.

Please contact your sales office for products not included in catalogs.

Our ceramic capacitor product lineup can be found at TY-COMPAS.

The meaning of Part Number is summarized in catalogs. Please click following links of your concerning products.

Capacitance is a physical quantity that describes the ability of electrial storage in capacitors. F(Farad) is an unit for expressing capacitance.

A quantity expressed by F is too large for capacitance range where ceramic capacitors are generally used. Instead, μF(micro Farad, one millionth of Farad) and pF(pico Farad, one trillionth of Farad) are often used as capacitance units of ceramic capacitors. We can roughly devide ceramic capacitors more than 1μF to high capacitance, and ones less than 1000pF to low capacitance category. However, the criteria of devision depend on situations.

Impedance of capacitors depends on capacitance and frequency. In an ideal capacitor, impedance becomes lower as capacitance is larger. Also, the impedance becomes lower as the frequency is higher.

Actually, the capacitor has resistance and inductance. In a simple expression, those characteristics can be written as a C, R, L serial equivalent circuit model. This R is called "Equivalent Series Resistance(ESR)", and L is called "Equivalent Series Inductance(ESL)".

Different from an ideal capacitor, the impedance of actual capcitor changes its tendency at a certain frequency because of ESL. This frequency is called "Self Resonant Frequency(SRF)". In higher frequency range than SRF, the impedance becomes larger by increasing frequency because ESL affects to impedance. At SRF, capacitance and ESL mutually erase each impedance. Therefore, only impedance by ESR remains at SRF.

Thus, the impedance of capcitor depends on frequency. That is impedance frequency characteristics in capacitors.

ESR and ESL both cause reduction of performance. Generally speaking, capacitors with lower ESR and ESL work better than higher ones. If ESR of a capacitor is large, it may cause generation of heat and voltage drop when the IC is operating. If ESL of a capacitor is large, it may cause ringing of waveform. ESR and ESL also varies depending on frequency in actual capacitors. Therefore, it is important to know ESR and ESL value at frequency in your concern. See also this document for more detail.

Multilayer ceramic capacitors are generally superior in ESR and ESL characteristics to other kind of capacitors. We can provide LW Reversal Decoupling Capacitors (LWDC™) that have even more lower ESR and ESL than general ceramic capacitors. Please try them in your application.

In high dielectric type capacitors, capacitance changes by applying voltage to them. Capacitance change by applied voltage is called capacitance voltage characteristics or bias characteristics.
This is caused by the material used in ceramic capacitors, and generally occurs on ceramic capacitors of other companies.
In temperature compensating type capacitors such as Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors(Temperature compensating type) and Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors for High Frequency Applications (1GHz+), almost no capacitance change by voltage occurs due to the difference of the material from high dielectric type.

The following picture is showing capacitance change ratio by applying DC voltage to our product LMK212BJ105KD-T.

In both cases, it is important to select an adequate capacitor refering to voltage characteristics so as to get required capacitance at applied voltage in actual circuits.
Please access to TY-COMPAS for voltage characteristics of each product where you can search specifications and characteristics of our products.

Capacitance of ceramic capacitors changes by ambient temperature. This change is called capacitance temperature characteristics.This is caused by the material used in ceramic capacitors, and generally occurs on ceramic capacitors of other companies.

The following picture is showing capacitance change ratio of our product LMK212BJ105KD-T by temperature.

About temperature characteristics of ceramic capacitors, there are two standards widely used. One is Japanese Industrial Standards(JIS), and the other is the standard by Electronic Industries Alliance(EIA). Ceramic capacitor manufacturers including our company provide temperature characteristic symbol of both/either JIS and/or EIA to each product. From this information, You can know the operating temperature range and coefficient of capacitance within the operating temperature range or capacitance change ratio belonging to each product. The following table is showing representative JIS and EIA temperature characteristic symbol list, and the list is also showing corresponding operating temperature range, temperature coefficient and capacitance change ratio.

Temperature coefficient and capacitance change ratio can be calculated from capacitance C_T at operating temperature T and capacitanceC_T0 at reference temperature T₀ using following formulas. These values must be within the range shown in the above table.

Capacitors have resistance in their electrodes and dielectrics. This resistance generates heat when AC current like ripple current passes through capacitors. It is very important to select capasitors with low ESR not to generate heat. Ceramic capacitors have lower ESR among capacitors and are best fit for preventing heat. You can find ESR characteristics of our ceramic capacitors in TY-COMPAS.

We are serving you TY-COMPAS. You can search each product, display specifications and characteristic charts on your browser by this web application. Please make most of it!

Yes. A section of multilayer ceramic capacitors is as a picture shown below. Changing it to an equivalent circuit, resistance and inductance of internal electrodes are connected in parallel.

Therefore, as the number of layers increase, the number of resistance and inductance connected in parallel also increase. This results in reduction of ESR and ESL.

Generally, as the size of a component is larger, the length of the internal electrodes becomes longer. Thus the resistance and inductance per an internal electrode become larger. In case that the size of a component is large, its ESR and/or ESL may be higher than the one with small size and a few of layers though the number of its layers is many.

Main tasks of ceramic capacitors on the circuit are coupling, decoupling, smoothing and filtering.

The ripple current in capacitors mainly means the current flowing into capacitors when the load current to IC changes.

At this time, capacitors generate heat by the ripple current since they have resistance called ESR in themselves. In aluminum capacitors etc., the current value when temperature rises to a certain degree (different among manufacturers) by capacitor heat is specified as maximum current value able to flow into capacitors. This is called permissible ripple current.

Though there is no specification for the permissible ripple current in ceramic capacitors, they tend to generate lower heat than aluminum capacitors etc. because ESR characteristics of ceramic capacitors are better than that of aluminum capacitors. Please make sure to use our products so that the sum of ambient temperature and temperature rise by self-heating is within the operating temperature range.

Please refer to temperature rise characteristics by self-heating of each product in TY-COMPAS.

You can get the technical information about capacitors from "The Fundamental Technical Knowledge of Passive Components" on our home page. The capacitor operation on the actual circuit is explained in this document. Please access to this.

Capacitance of ceramic capacitors changes by temperature, voltage, frequency, aging and so on. Nominal capacitance is measured under conditions described in the catalog, and does not always correspond to capacitance in the actual operating environment. About our products, you can confirm the capacitancechange by temperature, voltage and frequency in TY-COMPAS.

Yes. However, it is considered that the concentrated voltage can be applied to one or more capacitors of all by the unevenness of capacitance and/or capacitance change by voltage and temperature etc. Please make sure that the rated voltage of each capacitor exceeds the operating line voltage.

Capacitanceof ceramic capacitors is measured using measurement instruments such as a LCR meter (measurement principle is see below.) and an impedance analyzer.

In our company, the nominal capacitance of ceramic capacitors is measured under following conditions.
(Measurement conditions are also described on the reliability data page in the catalog. Catalogs are here.)

Note that capacitance changes by frequency, temperature, voltage and so on.

Please refer to individual specifications about measurement instruments and conditions of each product. Please refer to this page about measurement instruments and conditions used to get characteristics on data sheet.

The measurement method called "auto balancing bridge method" shown as the figure below is adopted to LCR meters by a lot of manufacturers of measurement instruments. In this method, the current at a measured object(=DUT) and a known resistance R is automatically adjusted to be same, that is the voltage at point A becomes 0. Then, LCR meter calculates complex impedance from the voltage applied to a DUT and a known resistance R. Capacitance of ceramic capaictors is derived from the reactance component of this complex impedance.

Please refer to the manufacturers' web site in details.

Please refer to following explanations.

In measurement system above, the current is increased while measuring temperature of the product and the ripple current value at that temperature. That is done until the temperature achieves 20℃ over the initial state. This procedure is repeated for each frequency specified in the table above.

Please refer to this.

Capacitance of ceramic capacitors changes by temperature, voltage, frequency, aging and so on. Nominal capacitance is measured under conditions described in the catalog. If you measure the capacitance under the different condition, the result is not always correspond to nominal capacitance. About our products, you can confirm the capacitance change by temperature, voltage and frequency in TY-COMPAS.

Also, the characteristics of used jigs is contained in the measurement result. Therefore, you must remove the influence of measurement jigs to get accurate capacitance. Please refer to the manufacturer's manual for the method of compensation.

For details on the structure and materials of ceramic capacitors, please refer to this section.

For details on the structure and materials of ceramic capacitors, please refer to this section.

Capacitance of high dielectric type ceramic capacitors gradually decreases over time. This phenomenon is called aging. Aging occurs because substances constructing ceramic capacitors gradually change their structure to be more stable electrically. This is a common phenomenon generally observed in ceramic capacitors. The reduced capacitance returns to the original value through thermal treatment.
This is not the case for temperature compensating type products such as Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors(Temperature compensating type) and Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors for High Frequency Applications (1GHz+) because used materials are different from high dielectric type.

The following table shows items for reliability tests of ceramic capacitors that our company performs.

Please refer to catalogs for each item in detail.

Please make sure to refer to individual specifications for reliabilities of each product.

For reliability test data on ceramic capacitors, please contact us here.

In our company, withstanding voltage test is performed at 2.5 to 3 times (rated voltage < 100) or 1.2 to 2.5 times (rated voltage ≥ 100) of rated voltage. In case that the applied voltage exceeds the rated voltage and does not exceed the voltage mentioned above, ceramic capacitors are not broken instantly. However, it causes the reduction of reliabilities to use over the rated voltage. Please refer to following precautions in detail.

It causes the reduction of the reliability to use ceramic capacitors outside the operating temperature range. In addition to that, characteristic change outside the specification such as capacitance change outside the range decided by temperature characteristics may occur. Please refrain from using ceramic capacitors outside the operating temperature range. Please agree to that in advance.

In high dielectric type ceramic capacitors, a dielectric has a slight distortion when the voltage is applied to it. This causes the physical vibration of ceramic capacitors when the volage at audio frequencies is applied to them. The vibration is tranmitted to the board and amplified resulting in a sound from ceramic capacitors.

The magnitude of the sound depends on not only the material of a dielectric but also the figure of the capacitor, the size of the board and the mounting state of components. Therefore, you need to take steps from both board layout and parts selection. Please ask our company in detail.

For this type of application, we are preparing Low Distortion High Value Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors(CF_LD)、LW Reversal Decoupling Capacitors (LWDC™) and like that. Please try to use them.

Considering the life of ceramic capacitors(*1), the applied voltage and the ambient temperature greatly affect to it in general. The following equation(*2) expressed by the applied voltage and the temperature is usually used to estimate the life. After determining the acceleration factor by the acceleration test at an arbitrary temperature and voltage, the life can be estimated by putting your volage and temperature condition into the formula.(*3)

The temperature acceleration factor(θ) and the voltage acceleration factor(n) described here are determined experimentally and different in each product. For example, when the product with the temperature acceleration factor 8 and voltage acceleration factor 4 has a 1000 hour(L2) life in the acceleration test at 20V(V2) and 85℃(T2), the life(L1) at 8V(V1) and 45℃(T1) is roughly estimated as follows by using this formula.

MSL is JEDEC regulation. This regulation is established to prevent products such as semiconductors from being damaged resulting from volume expansion by moisture evaporation at reflow etc. Moisture is mainly absorbed by resin used to seal the package of semiconductors etc. There is Moisture Sensitivity Level corresponding to the risk of damage in the regulation. It is needed to take measures corresponding to the level to pack with a desiccant and perform baking treatment after a certain period of time passes since unsealed etc.
Because the damage by moisture absorption is mainly caused by resin used in electronic parts, ceramic capacitors are out of this regulation since they are resin-less.

Precautions on the use of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors are summarized in catalogs. Please click the link for the product that you are interested in.

Breakdown is the phenomenon that a dielectric in the insulation layer is destroyed and results in short.

Following 3 cases are considered for the situation of breakdown.

Please use our products under the condition within the guaranteed range according to precautions on the use to prevent such situations.

Please refer to the following extract from precautions on the use in the catalog.

All of ceramic capacitors listed on our catalogs are compliant with Rohs New Directive (2011/65/EU) published in 2011 and REACH Regulation (EC 1907/2006) effective from 2007. Also, they are compliant with applicable environment regulations of law in force in major countries such as U.S.A., china and so on.

About products listed on catalogs that are sold directly from us, we are applying a management system in order to be compliant with above regulations from the purchase of materials to production and sales. About our products that trading and agent companies are dealing with, please ask them.
Please ask the nearest sales office about each product. Please agree in advance that we cannot answer details to inquiries about product compliance posted to inquiry form on our home page from the point of view of information security.

Please see this page about our environmental activities.

MΩ•μF is the product of insulation resistance and capacitance. For example, in case that the specification of insulation resistance for a 0.1μF capacitor is 500MΩ•μF, the insulation resistance value is 500MΩ•μF / 0.1μF = 5000MΩ.

Please refer to this section for the status of the ISO certification acquisition.

For more information on counterfeit products, please see here.

Please contact us here for the non-judgment.

Please refer to this section for precautions to be taken before mounting multilayer ceramic capacitors.

Soldering conditions are summarized at precautions on the use in catalogs. Click the link of the product that you are interested in.

In the catalog, there is a summary of precautions regarding flux application. Please click on the link of the product you wish to view.

The catalog summarizes precautions regarding flow soldering.
Please click on the link for the product you wish to view.

The catalog contains a summary of precautions for board separation operations.
Please click on the link for the product you wish to view.

Land dimensions are summarized at precautions on the use in catalogs.
Please click the link of the product that you are interested in.

After searching each product you want to see in TY-COMPAS, you can download S-parameter and SPICE Model of the product from the result table.

If you want package data of a product series, please download from here.

Catalogs are provided at Product information in PDF/S Parameter/SPICE model.

For data not shown in the frequency response graph, please contact us here.

After searching each product you want to see in TY-COMPAS, you can access the detailed product page from the product link of the result table. You can download the characteristic datasheet from the document section in that page.

For information on conflict minerals, please contact us here.

Please refer to this section for the countries and factories where ceramic capacitors are produced.