High Voltage Tantalum Polymer Capacitors
Solid tantalum (Ta) capacitors with intrinsically conductive polymers as the cathode material have been widely used in the electronics industry due to their low equivalent series resistance (ESR) and “non-burning/non-ignition” failure mode. Intrinsically conductive polymers, commonly known as conductive polymers, are electrically conductive at the molecular level. Unlike polymeric materials whose electrical conductivity is imported from the presence of foreign conductive particles (for example silver paints or adhesives), a single molecule (a polymer chain) of an intrinsically conductive polymer is conductive. Various types of conductive polymers including polypyrrole, polyaniline, and polyethyldioxythiophene (PEDT) can be applied to dielectric oxides to serve as the primary cathode material for solid electrolytic capacitors. Two methods of coating the dielectric oxide with conductive polymers are widely used in the industry, in-situ polymerization and electrochemical polymerization. In in-situ polymerization the monomer of an intrinsically conductive polymer is brought into contact with an oxidizer to drive the polymerization reaction. In electrochemical polymerization the reaction is driven by an externally supplied current. The major drawback of conductive polymer capacitors, regardless of the type or method of application, is their relatively low working voltages compared to their MnO2 counterparts. For example, the maximum voltage rating of existing surface mount polymer tantalum capacitors is 25 volts, while that of their MnO2 counterparts is 50 volts. When subjected to voltages exceeding 25 volts, the existing polymer capacitors have, to varying degrees, reliability issues. This limitation has restricted the use of these devices to relatively low voltage applications (<20 volts). New developments in material and process technologies have overcome these limitations leading to the introduction of a new line of high voltage tantalum polymer capacitors with excellent long term reliability.
Abnormal Capacitance Increasing at Elevated Temperature in Tantalum Capacitors with PEDOT:PSS Electrodes
Due to the importance of capacitance temperature stability in precise analog circuit applications, capacitance instability at elevated temperature of 125°C was investigated in tantalum capacitors with PEDOT:PSS counter electrodes. Capacitance-voltage measurement supposed that residual ions in the PEDOT:PSS dispersion caused an accumulation of charges at the dielectric-cathode interface which contributed to an increase in the dielectric constant and resulted in the capacitance increasing at high temperature. Based on the hypothesis, water wash process was applied and capacitance dropped significantly at high temperature. This study shows that an additional water wash process is necessary to improve the capacitance temperature stability after each dispersion dip step.
Conductive polymer cathodes-the latest step in declining ESR in tantalum capacitors
The progression of declining equivalent series resistance (ESR) in tantalum capacitors has moved through material modifications, process modifications, geometric modifications and material changes. This report is intended to review these changes in chronological order from the first "low ESR" offerings, up to the present conductive polymer offerings in the tantalum capacitors.