Kyocera Develops World’s First 1206 Size, 100V-Rated Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor

Mar 19, 2013– Tokyo, Japan  (Techreleased) – Kyocera Corporation  announced that it has succeeded in developing a new multilayer ceramic capacitor (hereinafter referred to as “MLCC”) achieving a smaller size with high voltage resistance and high capacitance, mainly for use in industrial equipment. The company will begin mass production in March 2013.

The new product (CM316X7S475M100V), developed by enhancing dielectric materials with Kyocera’s vast material technology, is the world’s first^*1 1206 size, 100V-rated MLCC with a maximum operating temperature of 125℃ and a capacitance of 4.7µF. Compared with Kyocera’s conventional 1210 size products^*2 meeting equivalent specifications, the mounting surface of this MLCC is reduced by approximately 30%, thus contributing to downsizing and greater design flexibility as well as longer service life in industrial equipment.

While MLCCs have advantages in terms of small size and extended service life compared with other types of capacitors, reducing size while maintaining high voltage resistance and high capacitance is difficult, as properties such as dielectric constants and insulation resistance degrade when applying high voltage to dielectric materials. Hence, aluminum electrolytic capacitors are often used for electronic circuits applied in power supplies of industrial equipment, which have high voltage resistant and high capacitance specifications such as a rated voltage of 100V and a capacitance of 4.7μF. In recent years, however, there are increasing needs for smaller industrial equipment products with longer service lives.

To respond to such needs, Kyocera has developed a 1206 size MLCC, achieving a smaller size with high voltage resistance and high capacitance. This product was developed by utilizing the company’s proprietary material technology, which included improvements such as reducing the size of particles in dielectric materials by approximately 20%^*4 compared with conventional products. By introducing this newly developed MLCC to the market, Kyocera hopes to contribute to further size reduction and service life extension of industrial equipment.

Main Features

1.World’s first 1206 size, 100V-rated MLCC with a maximum operating temperature of 125℃ and a capacitance of 4.7µF
Utilizing its long-accumulated material technology, Kyocera has developed a new dielectric material by reducing the average diameter of particles by approximately 20% and enhancing its uniformity of composition. This allows Kyocera to minimize the degradation in dielectric properties such as dielectric constants and insulation resistance against high voltage, even when the thickness of a dielectric layer is reduced. As a result, Kyocera has succeeded in developing the world’s first 1206 size, 100V-rated MLCC with a maximum operating temperature of 125℃ and a capacitance of 4.7µF.

2.Excellent ripple-resistance
In addition to low ESR, an intrinsic characteristic of MLCC, this product features a smaller size with high voltage resistance and high capacitance. While aluminum electrolytic capacitors are currently widely used in the market as smoothing capacitors for electronic circuits, this product exhibits ripple-resistance^*5 even in frequency bands of more than several dozen kHz, which cannot be achieved by aluminum electrolytic capacitors (e.g. ESR10mΩ at 50kHz, with a load of DC40V). This allows the capacitor to limit heat generation in the power supply circuit and voltage fluctuation to low levels, thus contributing to downsizing and enhancing reliability of industrial equipment.

*1. As of February 2013. Based on research by Kyocera.
*2. Conventional Kyocera product CM32X7S475M100V (3.2×2.5×2.5mm).
*3. X7S (EIA): Temperature variation of capacitance is within ±22% from -55 to +125℃.
*4. Compared with conventional Kyocera materials. Based on research by Kyocera.
*5. Ripple-resistance refers to an allowable amount of AC components (current noise) superimposed on the DC voltage. When AC components flow into the capacitor, heat is generated due to DC resistance of the capacitor (Equivalent Series Resistance: ESR), which may reduce service life in some cases. Therefore, it can be said that ripple-resistance is higher when ESR is low, as heat is not easily generated. As MLCCs essentially have a lower ESR than other capacitors such as aluminum electrolytic types, they feature superior voltage smoothing performance.