Murata has extended their lead in the manufacture of MLCC multi-layer ceramic capacitors for automotive applications with the release of their LLC series. The components feature a reversed termination for low ESL and are in a world’s-first 0.18mm profile package. Footprint is just 0.5 x 1.0mm for 1µF capacitance making the parts the smallest in the market.
The LLC series uses Murata’s proprietary thin-layer forming and high-precision lamination technology, along with advanced material atomization and homogenization techniques to achieve about 20% reduction in component height compared with existing parts.
This opens up the potential to more-easily fit the capacitors on the back-side of circuit boards, even amongst solder ball terminations, locating the parts in optimum positions for decoupling of processor power rails, close to the die. This in turn allows fewer capacitors to be used, saving cost, and increasing system reliability.
Along with their low ESR, the reduction in ESL achieved reduces the high-frequency impedance of the capacitors. This improves circuit performance to meet the requirements of modern, low-voltage, compute-intensive applications such as automotive advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
The automotive-grade LLC series complies with AEC-Q200 requirements, passing the 1000 temperature cycle test and temperature/humidity endurance test of 85°C at 80-85% humidity for 1000 hours.
