What Is an MLCC Capacitor?

Production

• Producing MLCCs start when ceramic powder is mixed with chemicals and solvents to create slurry. The slurry is cured in an oven to create ceramic tapes and the tapes are cut into small square pieces known as sheets. The sheets are then printed with electrode ink and stacked atop each other. Once stacked, the layered sheets are laminated together and then cut into smaller pieces to form the actual capacitors. The capacitors undergo firing to make the laminated sheets more durable. Once cured, the capacitors receive terminals and undergo plating to make then more resistant to corrosion and electric disturbances.

  MLCC's interior electrodes are fashioned from conductors of various materials: silver, palladium, gold or their alloys. Unlike ceramic dielectric elements that incorporate lead or lead compounds, MLCCs don't contain lead and remain stable even when subjected to heat.

Uses

• Widely used in power management, an MLCC generally retains its theoretical dielectric qualities even when used in circuits of DC-DC converter filters. These ceramic chips are also used in big quantities for automotive electronic parts and in manufacturing flat-panel television sets, desktops, laptops, and wireless handsets.

Advantages

• Compared to other capacitors, MLCC capacitors cost less and possess low equivalent series inductance, reduced equivalent series resistance, smaller mass and larger capacitance. They show resilience in high-temperature operating conditions. They are also environment-friendly, without lead or lead compound elements in their structure. Although DC bias may sometimes cause the MLCC to lose its capacitance value in certain conditions, it is still preferred over other capacitors made with different materials, such as those formed with aluminum sheets.

Supply

• With the number of companies currently producing MLCCs, demand is not expected to outrun supply of the component. Primary markets are all over the U.S., Europe and Asia. Because of its smallness and ability to perform well in heavy-duty applications, the future of MLCC production and use grows steadily.