A new technical paper published by AVX describes dielectric absorption, its importance, data collected during recent testing, & the AVX MLO technology advantage

GREENVILLE, S.C. (October 18, 2013) — AVX Corporation has published a new technical paper, “Dielectric Absorption of Multilayer Organic (MLO) Capacitors,” announcing that its MLO capacitors have been shown to exhibit the lowest dielectric absorption (DA) of any comparable technology, making them ideal for use in sample and hold (S/H) circuits. During the hold time of S/H circuits, the voltage across the capacitor is assumed to be a specified, predetermined number. However, due to variances in dielectric absorption, that may not be the case, which could make the circuit vulnerable to voltage errors. 

Dielectric absorption measurements recorded during tests based on MIL-C-19778 indicate that AVX’s MLO capacitors exhibit 0.0015% DA. For comparison, Teflon, which is known to have very low DA, exhibits DA of 0.01% and NP0 ceramic exhibits 0.6% DA. 

“Thanks to AVX’s proprietary MLO materials technology, our MLO capacitors have been shown to exhibit exceptionally low DA far below that of many other dielectric technologies, which makes them particularly well suited for sample and hold circuits, in which DA can cause errors at the output,” said Edgardo Menendez, field applications engineer at AVX.

Based on AVX’s proprietary MLO materials technology, which utilizes large area fabrication techniques and unique lumped element design topologies to achieve high Q, low loss RF components capable of stable operation across a wide frequency range, AVX’s MLO capacitors are expansion matched to most FR4 PCBs and are available with ratings up to 500V. 

For more information, visit www.avx.com.