Electrolytic Capacitor Review

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Electrolytic Capacitor Review

An electrolytic capacitor is a type of capacitor that uses an electrolyte, an ionic conducting liquid, as one of its plates, to achieve a larger capacitance per unit volume than other types. They are used in relatively high-current and low-frequency electrical circuits, particularly in power supply filters, where they store charge needed to moderate output voltage and current fluctuations in rectifier output. They are also widely used as coupling capacitors in circuits where AC should be conducted but DC should not. There are two types of electrolytic capacitors in common use: aluminum and tantalum.

Electrolytic capacitors are capable of providing the highest capacitance values of any type of capacitor (see Supercapacitors) but they have drawbacks which limit their use. The standard design requires that the applied voltage be polarized; one specified terminal must always have positive potential with respect to the other. Therefore they cannot be used with AC signals without a DC polarizing bias. However there are special non-polarized electrolytic capacitors for AC use which do not require a DC bias. Electrolytic capacitors also have relatively low breakdown voltage, higher leakage current and inductance, poorer tolerances and temperature range, and shorter lifetimes compared to other types of capacitors.

Construction:

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are constructed from two conducting aluminum foils, one of which is coated with an insulating oxide layer, and a paper spacer soaked in electrolyte. The foil insulated by the oxide layer is the anode while the liquid electrolyte and the second foil acts as the cathode. This stack is then rolled up, fitted with pin connectors and placed in a cylindrical aluminum casing. The two most popular geometries are axial leads coming from the center of each circular face of the cylinder, or two radial leads or lugs on one of the circular faces. Both of these are shown in the picture.

Polarity:

In aluminum electrolytic capacitors, the layer of insulating aluminum oxide on the surface of the aluminum plate acts as the dielectric, and it is the thinness of this layer that allows for a relatively high capacitance in a small volume. This oxide has a dielectric constant of 10, which is several times higher than most common polymer insulators. It can withstand an electric field strength of the order of 25 megavolts per meter which is an acceptable fraction of that of common polymers. This combination of high capacitance and reasonably high voltage result in high energy density.

Most electrolytic capacitors are polarized and require one of the electrodes to be positive relative to the other; they may catastrophically fail if voltage is reversed. This is because a reverse-bias voltage above 1 to 1.5 V will destroy the center layer of dielectric material via electrochemical reduction (see redox reactions). Following the loss of the dielectric material, the capacitor will short circuit, and with sufficient short circuit current, the electrolyte will rapidly heat up and either leak or cause the capacitor to burst, often in a spectacularly dramatic fashion.

To minimize the likelihood of a polarized electrolytic being incorrectly inserted into a circuit, polarity is very clearly indicated on the case. A bar across the side of the capacitor is usually used to indicate the negative terminal. Also, the negative terminal lead of a radial electrolytic is shorter than the positive lead and may be otherwise distinguishable. On a printed circuit board it is customary to indicate the correct orientation by using a square through-hole pad for the positive lead and a round pad for the negative.

Special capacitors designed for AC operation are available, usually referred to as "non-polarized" or "NP" types. In these, full-thickness oxide layers are formed on both the aluminum foil strips prior to assembly. On the alternate halves of the AC cycles, one of the foil strips acts as a blocking diode, preventing reverse current from damaging the electrolyte of the other one.

Modern capacitors have a safety valve, typically either a scored section of the can, or a specially designed end seal to vent the hot gas/liquid, but ruptures can still be dramatic. An electrolytic can withstand a reverse bias for a short period, but will conduct significant current and not act as a very good capacitor. Most will survive with no reverse DC bias or with only AC voltage, but circuits should be designed so that there is not a constant reverse bias for any significant amount of time.

The illustration are the most common schematic symbols for electrolytic capacitors. Some schematic diagrams do not print the "+" adjacent to the symbol. Older circuit diagrams show electrolytic capacitors as a small positive plate surrounded below and on the sides by a larger dish-shaped negative electrode, usually without "+" marking.

Capacitance:

The capacitance value of any capacitor is a measure of the amount of electric charge stored per unit of potential difference between the plates. The basic unit of capacitance is a farad; however, this unit has been too large for general use until the invention of the double-layer capacitor, so microfarad (�F, or less correctly uF), nanofarad (nF) and picofarad (pF) are more commonly used.

Many conditions determine a capacitor's value, such as the thickness of the dielectric and the plate area. In the manufacturing process, electrolytic capacitors are made to conform to a set of preferred numbers. By multiplying these base numbers by a power of ten, any practical capacitor value can be achieved, which is suitable for most applications.

Passive electronic components, including capacitors, are usually produced in preferred values (e.g., IEC 60063 E6, E12, etc. series).

The capacitance of aluminum electrolytic capacitors tends to change over time, and they usually have a tolerance range of 20%. Some have asymmetric tolerances, typically −20% but with much larger positive tolerance as many circuits merely require a capacitance to be not less than a given value; this can be seen on datasheets for many consumer-grade capacitors. Tantalum electrolytics can be produced to tighter tolerances and are more stable.

Types:

Unlike capacitors that use a bulk dielectric made from an intrinsically insulating material, the dielectric in electrolytic capacitors depends on the formation and maintenance of a microscopic metal oxide layer. Compared to bulk dielectric capacitors, this very thin dielectric allows for much more capacitance in the same unit volume, but maintaining the integrity of the dielectric usually requires the steady application of the correct polarity of voltage or the oxide layer will break down and rupture, causing the capacitor to lose its ability to withstand applied voltage (although it can often be "reformed"). In addition, electrolytic capacitors generally use an internal wet chemistry and they will eventually fail if the water within the capacitor evaporates.

Electrolytic capacitance values are not as tightly-specified as with bulk dielectric capacitors. Especially with aluminum electrolytics, it is quite common to see an electrolytic capacitor specified as having a "guaranteed minimum value" and no upper bound on its value. For most purposes (such as power supply filtering and signal coupling), this type of specification is acceptable.

As with bulk dielectric capacitors, electrolytic capacitors come in several varieties:

Aluminum electrolytic capacitor:

Compact but lossy, these are available in the range of <1 °F to 1 F with working voltages up to several hundred volts DC. The dielectric is a thin layer of aluminum oxide. They contain corrosive liquid and can burst if the device is connected backwards. The oxide insulating layer will tend to deteriorate in the absence of a sufficient rejuvenating voltage, and eventually the capacitor will lose its ability to withstand voltage if voltage is not applied. A capacitor to which this has happened can often be "reformed" by connecting it to a voltage source through a resistor and allowing the resulting current to slowly restore the oxide layer. Bipolar electrolytics (also called Non-Polarised or NP capacitors) contain two anodized films, behaving like two capacitors connected in series opposition. These are used when one electrode can be either positive or negative relative to the other at different instants, on alternating current circuits. Bad frequency and temperature characteristics make them unsuited for high-frequency applications. Typical ESL values are a few nanohenries.

Tantalum:

Compact, low-voltage devices up to several hundred °F, these have a lower energy density and are produced to tighter tolerances than aluminum electrolytics. Tantalum capacitors are also polarized because of their dissimilar electrodes. The anode electrode is formed of sintered tantalum grains, with the dielectric electrochemically formed as a thin layer of oxide. The thin layer of oxide and high surface area of the porous sintered material gives this type a very high capacitance per unit volume. The cathode electrode is formed either of a liquid electrolyte connecting the outer can or of a chemically deposited semi-conductive layer of manganese dioxide, which is then connected to an external wire lead. A development of this type replaces the manganese dioxide with a conductive plastic polymer (polypyrrole) that reduces internal resistance and eliminates a self-ignition failure.

Compared to aluminum electrolytics, tantalum capacitors have very stable capacitance, little DC leakage, and very low impedance at high frequencies. However, unlike aluminum electrolytics, they are intolerant of positive or negative voltage spikes and are destroyed (often exploding violently) if connected in the circuit backwards or exposed to spikes above their voltage rating.

Tantalum capacitors are more expensive than aluminum-based (with liquid electrolyte) capacitors and generally only available in low-voltage versions, but because of their smaller size for a given capacitance and lower impedance at high frequencies they are popular in miniature applications such as cellular telephones.

Solid Aluminum electrolytic capacitor with organic semiconductor electrolyte or OS-CON (which stands for OrganicSemi-CONductive) :

A new generation capacitor in which the aluminum foil layers are not immersed in a liquid electrolyte solution but in a solid semiconductive material derived from isoquinoline. The single crystal N-n-butyl-isoquinoline is thermoformed to final shape enhancing its conductivity substantially, thus protecting the capacitor from excess heat surges, and finally the OS-CON cans are sealed with epoxy. These capacitors are stable in use between -55 C to practically 125 C in theory. The main advantages of using this particular semiconductor are fairly low ESR, wider frequency range and greater stability in use compared to liquid electrolyte aluminum and tantalum solid polymer capacitors. OS-CON capacitors are often found as SMD.