Miniaturized, but great: Panasonic Stacked Metallized Chip Type Film Capacitors - high performance in a small housing

For anyone seeking a capacitor coming in a small case size, with a low-to-high voltage range, high precision and stable capacitance, Panasonic Industry chip type film capacitors could be the ideal solution.

Figure 1: Panasonic Industry Chip Type Film Capacitor line up

Looking at the shape of chip type film capacitors and some of their basic features, one might easily start to wonder: they look pretty much like MLCCs. So, what’s the difference between the two technologies? What are the advantages chip type film capacitors have?

Let’s make a quick comparison to find the answer.

Figure 2: Comparison between Chip Type Film Capacitor and MLCC

Easily being recognized, compared with MLCCs, chip type film capacitors have following advantages in terms of electric characteristics:

• High preciseness: a tight capacitance range down to ±2%
• Wide voltage range up to 630VDC
• Low dielectric absorption down to 0.05%
• Better DC bias characteristics
• No piezoelectric effect
• Self-healing ability

Let’s dive into each Panasonic product type to have a better understanding of the technology.

ECHU Type

This type has ECHU(X) and ECHU(C) series available. These two series utilize stacked metallized PPS film as dielectric with simple mold-less construction. They are small in case size (down to 1.6mm x0.8mm footprint!), feature a tight capacitance tolerance of ±2% & ±5%. The capacitance in a single component can go up to 220nF.

ECHU(X) series is available in a low voltage range of 16VDC to 50VDC.

ECHU(C) series is available in a middle voltage range of 100VDC.

Figure 3: Construction of ECHU(X) type

Figure 4: Construction of ECHU(C) type

Now, let’s take a closer look at ECHU(X) series.

As mentioned earlier, ECHU(X) series is focusing on low voltage range of 16VDC to 50VDC.

It benefits from excellent electric characteristics of low ESR, low loss, stable capacitance against temperature and DC bias.

Figure 5: ECHU(X) has excellent electric characteristics

This makes ECHU(X) series the most suitable solution for filtering in xDSL circuit of class D amplifiers for speakers, smartphones and wireless communication etc., as well as for LED circuits.

Figure 6: ECHU(X) series is the ideal solution for xDSL and LED circuit

Furthermore, it guarantees a very fast lock-up time and doesn’t show a piezoelectric effect as MLCCs do, which makes it a perfect solution for PLL (phase locked loop) circuit in applications such as smart phones, wireless communication and Bluetooth devices etc.

Figure 7: ECHU(X) series is ideal solution for PLL circuit

ECPU Type

This type has ECPU(A) series available. This series utilizes stacked metallized plastic film as dielectric and inner electrode with simple mold-less construction. It features a wide capacitance range up to 1.0μF within an ultra-small case size (only 3.2mm x2.5mm footprint for 1.0μF!).

Figure 8: Construction of ECPU(A) type

ECPU(A) series benefits from excellent electric characteristics as low ESR, low loss and stable capacitance over temperature. All this enables its outstanding performance for noise reduction in measurement circuits.

Figure 9: ECPU(A) has excellent electric characteristics

And with ultra-low distortion characteristics being added, ECPU(A) is the most appropriate capacitor solution for coupling in audio circuits.

Figure 10: ECPU(A) series features ultra-low distortion

ECWU Type

Lastly, let’s check out the ECWU type. This type has ECWU(C) series available.

This series is based on stacked metallized PEN film as dielectric with simple mold-less construction. Like the other two types introduced earlier, this series also features a small case size while covering a wide voltage range up to 630VDC.