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Difference between capacitor types — Parallax Forums

Difference between capacitor types

hcwonghcwong Posts: 38
edited 2005-08-30 11:31 in General Discussion
Can anyone point out to me the difference in performance and characteristics between the following capacitor types?
1) Multilayer ceramic cap
2) Ceramic·disc cap
3) Electrolytic·cap
4) Polyester cap
5) Mica cap
6) Tantalum cap

Thanks in advance.

Comments

  • knightofoldcodeknightofoldcode Posts: 233
    edited 2005-08-29 23:36
    hcwong said...
    Can anyone point out to me the difference in performance and characteristics between the following capacitor types?
    1) Multilayer ceramic cap

    2) Ceramic disc cap

    3) Electrolytic cap

    4) Polyester cap

    5) Mica cap

    6) Tantalum cap



    Thanks in advance.

    You're talking about a HUGE amount of information. To give you an idea, I looked up a webpage on this, and the webpage if printed would be 10+ pages. This is a large amount of information.

    Heres the webpage, I think that's the best way to answer this question.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor

    Knight.
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2005-08-30 11:31
    Wikipedia is an excellent start for almost any question on electroinics and digital concepts.

    I think that you can really narrow your inquiry if you specify one of three areas of use:

    A. High voltage and /or high capacity (usually power supply filters to reduce ripple0
    B. Digital noise reduction
    C. Audiophile applications

    If instance, Audiophiles hate tantalum, but really rely quite heavily on polyester [noparse][[/noparse]aka mylar] when linking stages in tube amplifiers.

    Electrolic are really for either cheap or large. They seem to have the shortest life and most problematic life of any of the devices

    Digital noise reduction focuses on mostly the ceramic disc and the tantalum.

    And, this is the first I have heard of multilayer ceramic caps, but then again you have not included the 'super capacitors' or the old and very large 'air gap capacitors'.

    As you can easily begin to see, the Pro and Con are generally dictated by the application. So start there

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