Trends in Chip Capacitors
Efforts are being stepped up to develop new chip capacitor products for three major demand driving fields: smartphones, cars, and industrial equipment.

The development of new ultra-small MLCC products for smartphones, such as 0402- and 0603-size products, is being hastened, including enhancement of capacity and withstand voltage. As next-generation chips, 0201-size products have started to be produced. For modules that use component-embedding substrates, ultra-thin products featuring 0.09mm thickness have been released as MLCCs integration.

There are a wide variety of high-reliability automotive MLCC products for engine control units (ECU). MLCCs with metal terminals, where various stresses are reduced externally, are developed by fitting a sheet metal frame on the external electrodes. Also, resin electrode products, in which a conductive resin electrode layer is inserted into the external electrodes, are used because of their effectiveness in external stress reduction.

For tantalum capacitors, high-CV tantalum powders have been developed and employed thanks to advancements in pulverization techniques for tantalum powders for capacity enhancement. Also, as a chip structure, a bottom electrode structure has been developed. By using this structure, the volumetric efficiency of tantalum was improved to achieve miniaturization and capacity enhancement, for example, 47µF capacitors with dimensions of 2×1.2×1mm have been developed. Aluminum electrolytic capacitors available for automotive use have been improved in terms of vibrational acceleration and high temperature reliability. Their vibrational acceleration has been increased from the previous maximum of 10G to 40G, and they are now capable of operating at 150°C.

The development of polymer capacitors and conductive polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors (hybrid capacitors) is being intensified. Polymer capacitors use a conductive polymer as the electrolyte, and conductive polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors use a conductive polymer and electrolytic solution as the electrolyte. The use of these capacitors as power supplies is rapidly increasing in automotive ECUs.