Vishay's surface-mount RF capacitors with highest SRF for apps at frequencies up to 20 GHz

MALVERN, USA: Vishay Intertechnology Inc. announced a surface-mount thin film RF capacitor with the industry's highest self-resonance frequency (SRF), which ranges from 8.5 GHz to upwards of 20 GHz depending on capacitance. The Vishay RFCS series of capacitors replaces the previous-generation HPC product line.

The RFCS devices have a Q of 260 to 70,500 at 100 MHz, and 10 to 3,190 at 1 GHz. The capacitors measure only 0.040 in. x 0.020 in. x 0.015 in. The devices are rated for a working voltage of up to 50 V, and feature a capacitance range of 0.2 pF to 27 pF with a tight tolerance of 5 percent.

With a thin film capacitor-on-silicon construction, the RFCS series devices are designed for RF circuits that require exceptional performance at frequencies up to 20 GHz. The unique structure of the RFCS capacitors is based on thin-film electrodes deposited on a highly conductive silicon substrate.

This patented structure is characterized by ultra-low parasitic inductance, which allows the component to self-resonate at significantly higher frequencies than alternative technologies.

The RFCS capacitors will be used for impedance matching circuits, decoupling, DC blocking, lumped element filters, and other circuit applications requiring ultra-thin components, such as smart credit cards and SIM cards. Typical end products in which the device will be used include test and measurement equipment, RF receivers and transmitters, high-frequency data transfer (telecom, datacom, etc.), and other applications with operating frequencies greater than 5 GHz.

The device's extraordinarily low height profile of 0.015 in. is enabled by a patented MOS configuration. This unique structure allows the caps to be further lapped down to ultra-thin form factors of less than 0.01 in. This is useful in applications such as embedded circuitry in credit cards, SIM cards, and counterfeit-proof official documents such as passports.

The RFCS capacitor features lead (Pb)-free terminations and is suitable for lead (Pb)-free soldering. Samples and production quantities of the new RFCS are available now, with lead times of 10 weeks for larger orders.