Multivalue Arrangements Found In SMT Ceramic Capacitors

June 9, 2003

A new family of multivalue capacitors provides multiple capacitance values within a single surface-mount package. They combine broadband-filtering characteristics with an exceptionally small footprint. Yageo's Phycomp X2Y series arrays...

Roger Allan

Yageo's Phycomp X2Y series arrays integrate two pairs of multilayer ceramic capacitors within a single monolithic chip. Each pair consists of a high and a low capacitance value. The values and ratio can be customized up to a maximum capacitance ratio of 100:1. Circuit manufacturers can then implement broadband filtering in their circuits in a wide choice of bandwidths and center frequencies to meet specific needs.

The capacitors are available with NPO (Class 1), X7R (Class 2), and Y5V (Class 3) dielectrics. All come with nickel-lead terminations. Class 1 capacitors come in form factors 0603 (5 to 220 pF) and 0805 (5-332 pF). Class 2 comes in 0603 (0.5-100 nF), 0805 (2.4-180 nF), 1206 (11-820 nF), 1210 (16-1000 nF), and 1812 (25-1000 nF). Class 3 comes in 0603 (110-220 nF), 0805 (235-470 nF), 1206 (1100-2200 nF), and 1210 (2350-4700 nF).

The capacitors integrated within each multivalue cap array package come with individual terminations that can be connected in parallel externally on the pc board. With the appropriate choice of capacitance values, the array can also operate as an integrated dual-band filter optimized for 900 and 1800 MHz for the latest generation of dual-band GSM mobile phones. Applications include automotive electronics, mobile devices, and data processing.

Pricing for a multivalue C array (0603 × 4) is $0.075 each. Availability is up to eight weeks.

See associated figure

Yageo Corp. www.yageo.com

About the Author

Roger Allan

Roger Allan is an electronics journalism veteran, and served as Electronic Design's Executive Editor for 15 of those years. He has covered just about every technology beat from semiconductors, components, packaging and power devices, to communications, test and measurement, automotive electronics, robotics, medical electronics, military electronics, robotics, and industrial electronics. His specialties include MEMS and nanoelectronics technologies. He is a contributor to the McGraw Hill Annual Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. He is also a Life Senior Member of the IEEE and holds a BSEE from New York University's School of Engineering and Science. Roger has worked for major electronics magazines besides Electronic Design, including the IEEE Spectrum, Electronics, EDN, Electronic Products, and the British New Scientist. He also has working experience in the electronics industry as a design engineer in filters, power supplies and control systems.

After his retirement from Electronic Design Magazine, He has been extensively contributing articles for Penton’s Electronic Design, Power Electronics Technology, Energy Efficiency and Technology (EE&T) and Microwaves RF Magazine, covering all of the aforementioned electronics segments as well as energy efficiency, harvesting and related technologies. He has also contributed articles to other electronics technology magazines worldwide.

He is a “jack of all trades and a master in leading-edge technologies” like MEMS, nanolectronics, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, military electronics, biometrics, implantable medical devices, and energy harvesting and related technologies.