Ceramic Capacitor Temperature Ratings

All ratings are from 25 to 85 c.

Ceramic capacitor temperature ratings. The reality of modern small form factor ceramic capacitors is a good reminder to always read the data sheet. Ceramic disc capacitors are usually through hole components and are falling out of favor due to their size. Nominal capacitance c the nominal value of the capacitance c of a capacitor is the most important of all capacitor. Engineers must check the data to know really know how a specific capacitor will perform under voltage.

Ceramic names temperature coefficients α α tolerances and letter codes for α. Multi layer ceramic capacitor mlcc. The second character indicates the maximum temperature. 5 as in x5r corresponds to 85 c and 7 as in x7r corresponds to 125 c.

The first character indicates the lowest temperature that the capacitor can handle. Ceramic disc capacitors have a capacitance value of 10pf to 100μf with a wide variety of voltage ratings between 16 volts to 15 kv and more. This letter represents the tolerance of the capacitor meaning how close the actual value of the capacitor can be expected to be to the indicated value of the capacitor. The theoretical range is from 45 c to 200 c.

These capacitor characteristics can always be found in the data sheets that the capacitor manufacturer provides to us so here are just a few of the more important ones. The letter x as in x7r x5r corresponds to 55 c. A ceramic capacitor is a fixed value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric. The third letter gives the maximum tolerance from that in ppm k.

This tutorial explains how ceramic capacitor type designations such as x7r and y5v imply nothing about voltage coefficients.