Polymer Aluminum Electrolytic CapacitorsExplanatory video: Example solutions to problems

When designing a circuit board, we considered the conditions of the various components and ran a circuit simulation, but when we did actual measurements on a prototype, there were momentary drops in the voltage of the power line that caused the voltage supplied to the processor and other ICs to fall below the recommended power supply voltage.

When using MLCC capacitors, the capacitance may be lowered due to the above causes.
This is a phenomenon that engineers are well aware of, but since it is very difficult to estimate the characteristics of each and every component based on the data provided by component manufacturers, measurement values will sometimes differ from the results of simulations.

Murata’s ECAS series polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors exhibit almost no change in capacitance when DC bias is applied.
This means that using ECAS series bypass capacitors does not impose a burden on the circuit designers because changes in power line voltage due to fluctuations in capacitance are minimized.

A single ECAS series high-capacitance capacitor can take the place of multiple conventional capacitors. Compared with an MLCC device with the same capacitance, the footprint of an equivalent ECAS series capacitor is around 50% smaller, contributing to more compact product designs.

What’s more, ECAS series capacitors have a low profile, at only 2.0 mm thick. This is more than around 50% thinner than equivalent can-type aluminum electrolytic capacitors, and makes it easier to create thinner products. For example, switching from can-type aluminum electrolytic capacitors to ECAS series capacitors can enable notebook PCs that offer both high performance and thinner design.

And there’s more!
Switching to ECAS series capacitors makes it possible to reduce the number of capacitors used, which reduces the volume of both resources consumed and waste produced, lowering the environmental burden.

When using MLCC devices, the product may sometimes generate acoustic noise.
Many people are annoyed when products they use regularly, such as chargers or PCs, produce noise, and it is not unusual for consumers to submit complaints in such cases.

Since the dielectric element of an ECAS series capacitor does not become distorted when voltage is applied to it, application of voltage does not cause acoustic noise. Switching from conventional MLCC devices to Murata ECAS series capacitors enables a reduction in both unpleasant noise and vibration.
In sound pressure measurements including background noise, using ECAS series capacitors resulted in a reduction of about 40% in the sound pressure level compared with conventional MLCC devices.