AVX Corporation, a leading manufacturer of passive components and interconnect solutions, has developed two new high-reliability SMD tantalum chip capacitor series for use in European aerospace applications.

The TES Series multi-anode molded tantalum chip capacitors and the TCH Series hermetically sealed tantalum polymer chip capacitors both provide very low ESR, high capacitance, and high voltage, as well as enable a significant payload reduction for power supplies.

"The new TES and TCH Series SMD chip capacitors provide aerospace and other high-reliability applications with all of the benefits of AVX's tantalum technology, which is a notable achievement because tantalum capacitors that have been designed and approved for use in these industries are fairly uncommon due to tantalum's inherent sensitivity to the combination of humidity and high temperatures," said Dan Lane, product marketing manager at AVX.

AVX's new TES Series multi-anode SMD molded tantalum chip capacitors feature an improved high-reliability design and offer extremely low ESR, a capacitance range of 1.0uF to 680uF, and a voltage range of 6.3 to 50VDC.

Manufactured in accordance with European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) standards, the new TES Series provides several downsizing options, as well as higher capacitance and lower ESR than comparable tantalum devices designed for use in aerospace applications. The devices are also EPPL2 (European Preferred Parts List) approved according to the new ESCC specification ESCC3012/004.

Per ESCC specifications, E case size TES Series capacitors use vertical multi-anode internal construction to reduce the ESR to 30mOhm and D case size TES Series capacitors utilize a mirror multi-anode design, which effectively reduces the Equivalent Series Inductance (ESL) to half.

TES Series SMD tantalum chip capacitors are produced in AVX's European Space Agency (ESA) qualified manufacturing plant in Lanskroun, Czech Republic. Full QPL qualification is scheduled for the third quarter of 2013.

AVX's TCH Series hermetically sealed SMD tantalum polymer capacitors were specifically designed for a mission-critical ESA project that required both extremely high capacitance and very low ESR.

Tantalum polymer capacitor technology provides both high capacitance and very low ESR values, in addition to lower derating and higher ripple current capabilities; however, due to its sensitivity to the combination of high temperature and high humidity conditions, has not been widely used in the aerospace industry.

To suppress humidity and oxidative degradation, AVX encased its tantalum polymer capacitors in hermetically sealed SMD cases filled with an inert gas, successfully eliminating the impact of environmental conditions and achieving the excellent stability required for aerospace and other high-reliability applications.

Featuring a low ESR conductive polymer electrode, AVX's new TCH Series hermetically sealed SMD tantalum chip capacitors provide high capacitance values up to 680uF and high voltage of up to 100V, which makes them the highest voltage space-grade SMD tantalum polymer capacitors currently on the market.

TCH Series capacitors are available in two case sizes: I case, which measures 11.8mm x 6mm x 2.6mm and weighs 0.5g, and 9 case, which is comparable to the CTC21D case size, measures 11.8mm x 12.5mm x 5.8mm, and weighs 2.4g. Engineering samples of AVX's TCH Series are currently available upon request and will be made commercially available in the first quarter of 2013.