CAPACITOR

A capacitor is a passive electronic component that stores energy in the form

of an electrostatic field. In its simplest form, a capacitor consists of two
conducting plates separated by an insulating material called the dielectric.
Capacitance is the ability of the capacitor to store electricity. The
capacitance is directly proportional to the surface areas of the plates, and is
inversely proportional to the separation between the plates. Capacitance also
depends on the dielectric constant of the substance separating the plates.
The standard unit of capacitance is the farad, abbreviated. This is a large
unit; more common units are the microfarad, abbreviated µF (1 µF =10-6F)
and the picofarad, abbreviated pF (1 pF = 10-12 F).
Capacitors can be fabricated onto integrated circuit (IC) chips. They are
commonly used in conjunction with transistors in dynamic random access
memory (DRAM). The capacitors help maintain the contents of memory.
Because of their tiny physical size, these components have low capacitance.
They must be recharged thousands of times per second or the DRAM will
lose its data.
Large capacitors are used in the power supplies of electronic equipment of
all types, including computers and their peripherals. In these systems, the
capacitors smooth out the rectified utility AC, providing pure, battery-like
DC.

Capacitor types & dielectrics

Although all capacitors work in essentially the same way, key differences in
the construction of different capacitor types make an enormous difference in
their properties.

The main element of the capacitor that gives rise to the different properties
of the different types of capacitor is the dielectric - the material between the
two plates. Its dielectric constant will alter the level of capacitance that can
be achieved within a certain volume.

Some types of capacitor may be polarized, i.e. they only tolerate voltages
across them in one direction. Other capacitor types are non-polarized and
can have voltages of either polarity across them.

Typically the different types of capacitor are named after the type of
dielectric they contain. This gives a good indication of the general properties
they will exhibit and for what circuit functions they can be used.
Different Capacitor Types

There are many different types of capacitor that can be used - most of the
major types are outlined below:

 Ceramic capacitor: The ceramic capacitor is a type of capacitor that

is used in many applications from audio to RF. Values range from a
few picofarads to around 0.1 microfarads. Ceramic capacitor types are
by far the most commonly used type of capacitor being cheap and
reliable and their loss factor is particularly low although this is
dependent on the exact dielectric in use. In view of their constructional
properties, these capacitors are widely used both in leaded and surface
mount formats.

 Electrolytic capacitor: Electrolytic capacitors are a type of capacitor

that is polarised. They are able to offer high capacitance values -
typically above 1μF, and are most widely used for low frequency
applications - power supplies, decoupling and audio coupling
applications as they have a frequency limit if around 100 kHz.

 Tantalum capacitor: Like electrolytic capacitors, tantalum

capacitors are also polarised and offer a very high capacitance level for
their volume. However this type of capacitor is very intolerant of being
reverse biased, often exploding when placed under stress. This type of
capacitor must also not be subject to high ripple currents or voltages
 above their working voltage. They are available in both leaded and
surface mount formats.

 Silver Mica Capacitor: Silver mica capacitors are not as widely used
these days, but they still offer very high levels of stability, low loss and
accuracy where space is not an issue. They are primarily used for RF
applications and they are limited to maximum values of 1000 pF or so.

 Polystyrene Film Capacitor: Polystyrene capacitors are a relatively

cheap form of capacitor but offer a close tolerance capacitor where
needed. They are tubular in shape resulting from the fact that the
plate / dielectric sandwich is rolled together, but this adds inductance
limiting their frequency response to a few hundred kHz. They are
generally only available as leaded electronics components.

 Polyester Film Capacitor: Polyester film capacitors are used where

cost is a consideration as they do not offer a high tolerance. Many
polyester film capacitors have a tolerance of 5% or 10%, which is
adequate for many applications. They are generally only available as
leaded electronics components.
 Metallised Polyester Film Capacitor: This type of capacitor is a
essentially a form of polyester film capacitor where the polyester films
themselves are metallised. The advantage of using this process is that
because their electrodes are thin, the overall capacitor can be
contained within a relatively small package. The metallised polyester
film capacitors are generally only available as leaded electronics
components.

 Polycarbonate capacitor: The polycarbonate capacitors have been

used in applications where reliability and performance are critical. The
polycarbonate film is very stable and enables high tolerance capacitors
to be made which will hold their capacitance value over time. In
addition they have a low dissipation factor, and they remain stable
over a wide temperature range, many being specified from -55°C to
+125°C. However the manufacture of polycarbonate dielectric has
ceased and their production is now very limited.

 Polypropylene Capacitor: The polypropylene capacitor is

sometimes used when a higher tolerance type of capacitor is necessary
 than polyester capacitors offer. As the name implies, this capacitor
uses a polypropylene film for the dielectric. One of the advantages of
the capacitor is that there is very little change of capacitance with time
and voltage applied. This type of capacitor is also used for low
frequencies, with 100 kHz or so being the upper limit. They are
generally only available as leaded electronics components.

 Glass capacitors: As the name implies, this capacitor type uses

glass as the dielectric. Although expensive, these capacitors offer very
high levels or performance in terms of extremely low loss, high RF
current capability, no piezo-electric noise and other features making
them ideal for many performance RF applications.

 Supercap: Also known as a supercapacitor or ultracapacitor, as the

name implies these capacitors have very large values of capacitance,
of up to several thousand Farads. They find uses for providing a
memory hold-up supply and also within automotive applications.
These capacitors include some of the main capacitor types, although there
are other types that are used for more specialist applications.

Many of these capacitors have their values and other details about them
marked on the cases so that they can be easily identified. Codes are often
used for these markings to enable the parameters to be displayed in a
compact manner.

How to know the capacitance of a capacitor

Most of capacitors have been label so the identification of value is

easier. But how we will measure capacitor that uses code in representing
value?

1. Ceramic capacitor: This is the type of capacitor that uses three digit
codes. For this capacitor we have to combine the 1st and 2nd digit the
multiply it using the 3rd digit. The 3rd digit has an equivalent value that
shown below:

0 1
1 10
2 100
3 1000
4 10000
5 100000
6 1000000
7 10000000
8 100000000
9 1000000000

10*1000=10000
The total capacitance of Ceramic Capacitor is measured in Pico Farad. To
convert the capacitance unit into nano farad divides the value of pico farad
by 1000. If you see a letter on the code this means tolerance. Tolerance
table are show below:
B +-0.10%
C +-0.25%
D +-0.5%
E +-0.5%
F +-1%
G +-2%
H +-3%
J +-5%
K +-10%
M +-20%
N +-0.05%
P +100% -0%
Z +80% -20%

Some capacitor has voltage label and other have none. To be sure what
voltage can a capacitor give use multitester.