The extensive use of
ceramics represents a milestone in the history of electronics. Tantalum
capacitors are used in electronics because of high melting point, high
capacitance and high density. It is corrosion resistant to most acids at
different temperatures. All these unique features have made tantalum increasingly
useful over the years, especially in nano electrical circuitry.
But the scarcity of
tantalum powder has boosted the demand for alternate components.
After using tantalum parts for many years, manufacturers suddenly wanted other
alternate options. The development and research efforts lead to the improvement
in engineering and production methods for ceramic capacitors. As a result,
there were the surprising improvements in design combined with the inherent uniqueness
of ceramics.
The design
modifications led to numerous advantages, which includes low ESR (equivalent
series resistance), non polarization, ease of placement and high voltage. The
Low ESR is vital because it lets manufacturers to use lesser-value capacitors
without corrupting performance. However, the more important fact is that the ceramic
capacitors are very cost efficient. Customers realized that the design
flexibility offered by ceramics is better than tantalum capacitors.
The designs of ceramic
caps are easily adjustable, which allows the drop-in replacements in filtering,
smoothing, decoupling and by-passing and applications. Ceramic caps can be
easily customized in a cost-effective manner. However, it is not possible for
tantalum because machining tantalum
consumes lots of time and is expensive. The lead time dropped from 52 weeks for
tantalum caps to eight weeks for ceramics.
Small capacitors can't attain
the same capacitance as larger ones. They do need fewer raw materials. Reduced
demand for raw material lessens the possibility of a material shortage which
increases cost. As tantalum capacitors are much larger than the ceramic using
ceramic caps can reduce equipment size and cost. Other benefit is that the
electrode material nickel used to make ceramics is much easier to mine and find
than tantalum.
The future of ceramic
capacitors is very bright. As consumers gets attracted to more sophisticated
products and smaller size, manufacturers are now giving importance to the size,
design flexibility and cost of capacitors. Although tantalum is still a useful
material, ceramics have established their mark in the market.
