A kind of capacitor where ceramic material acts as a dielectric. They have less volumetric efficiency than electrolytic capacitors.
See this Wikipedia page.
Questions tagged [ceramic]
134 questions
33
votes
4 answers
Ceramic capacitors: how to read 2-digit markings?
Related question: Ceramic capacitors: how to read 3-digit markings?
I have some ceramic capacitors with a 2-digit marking. How to read them? Do the colored markings at the top mean anything?
Image description:
Brown ceramic capacitors with 10…
Denilson Sá Maia
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6 answers
Why recommend tantalum over ceramic capacitor for voltage regulator?
The LM1117 voltage regulator datasheet recommends using tantalum capacitors on the input and output. What is the reason for this? What advantage does tantalum have over a ceramic capacitor?
A 10μF tantalum capacitor costs about 21 cents, while a…
user31708
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4 answers
Will a 0402 0.01 µF ceramic capacitor next to a 0402 0.1 µF ceramic capacitor have any power decoupling benefits?
I always understood that the point of using smaller capacitors in parallel was to provide low impedance at higher frequencies than the bigger capacitors, because the higher capacitance capacitors 'usually' had larger packages, so the parasitic…
apalopohapa
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2 answers
What are the functional differences between monolithic and disc ceramic capacitors?
I've inherited an older part numbering scheme, in which ceramic capacitors are divided into disc and monolithic types. Is this actually a firm division in their characteristics? If so, what are the differences? Is that nomenclature common, or are…
Stephen Collings
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4 answers
Ceramic (MLCC) versus Tantalum capacitors
From the perspective of an electronics designer, but also taking into account price/cost and social considerations (see Coltan mining and ethics link below), I tend to avoid Tantalum capacitors under many circumstances, while favouring Multi-Layer…
jose.angel.jimenez
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16
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1 answer
Why do ceramic insulators have a stacked disc structure?
I've seen these stacked-disc structures on high voltage power lines everywhere. I could not find any information regarding this particular shape, though.
From what I've noticed, high voltage ceramic insulators only insulate conductors end-to-end…
everything1burrito
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15
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1 answer
Why do some devices use electrolytic capacitors instead of ceramics for small value components?
I've recently run into a number of consumer-grade devices that use 50v, 0.22uF electrolytic capacitors, as well as other similarly rated parts, all below about 10uF. In use, the voltages on them are far less than the rating, usually around ~15-25V…
ZetaSyanthis
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13
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4 answers
SMD ceramic capacitor 0805 vs 1206
I don't know what size to choose. Does SMD capacitor package matter in my case, Is it wrong to choose 0805 package?
Smekeri BezPrezimena
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13
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2 answers
MLCC - Can I use high voltage rated caps for very low voltage scenarios?
Is there any important reason why I can`t use high voltage mulilayer ceramic capacitors for low voltage scenarios? For example 50V or 100V rated MLCCs for 3.3V DC applications?
I have bad eyes, and have trouble soldering 1206 or smaller packages,…
HeliTux
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13
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2 answers
Ceramic capacitors: how to read 3-digit plus 1-letter markings?
It seems that reading a ceramic capacitor value out of its written values is harder than decoding enigma machine.
I wonder if experienced users here does have a trick to quickly figure out these values. Some examples:
I know that 103M is 0.01µF but…
Dumbo
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12
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4 answers
Capacitance variation with applied voltage
I have found that the capacitance of some capacitors like ceramic capacitors can actually change when a DC bias voltage is applied across them. The voltage need only be a few volts to make significant difference to the capacitance. Capacitors are…
quantum231
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2 answers
Tantalum capacitors vs. ceramic capacitors
I have a negative LDO (-5V from -5.5V to -10V) which requires a tantalum or aluminum capacitor. I'm wondering why it can't use a ceramic capacitor? Is there any specific reason for this?
Regulator is a TC59 (datasheet).
(Correction: the regulator I…
Thomas O
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11
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1 answer
About the audible noise of capacitor
All dielectric materials deform under the stress of an electric field, it's called "electrostrictive effect". And some dielectrics exhibit an additional piezoelectric effect, such ceramic capacitors, but the dominant mechanism is piezoelectric…
diverger
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If temperature is not an issue, what can be said about the different ceramic dielectrics
Let’s assume we have a circuit whose operating ambient temperature range is well-regulated to 25+-5C. Besides cost, what would be the use cases for the different ceramic dielectric types? In other words, what would be the applications is which a…
Edgar Brown
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1 answer
Why does the measured capacitance value of some ceramic capacitors keeps on increasing?
The capacitance of two ceramic capacitors were measured using an LCR meter (Agilent E4980A) at 1 kHz. The measured capacitance values of 100 pF and 100 nF capacitors are shown below.
The value of 100 pF capacitor remains more or less the same…
arjun.ar
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