Hello All,

Im working on a project and we ran into some problems with a breakout board. It looks like one of the capacitors is poping causing issues. If you could help me identify what the name of the part is I would greatly appreciate it. Please see the picture, I have circled the part im referring too. Thank you all!!

 

It is a solid tantalum type, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything beyond that.

Tantalum capacitors do tend to fail at least partially short-circuited and they don't like fast-rising voltage applied to them.

 

I appreciate the response, Thank You! Do you know if there is something that we can use to replace them. It makes sense that they dont like fast-rising voltage, they are failing as soon as we plug them into power.

 

It is a solid tantalum type, but I'm afraid I can't tell you anything beyond that.

Tantalum capacitors do tend to fail at least partially short-circuited and they don't like fast-rising voltage applied to them.

I appreciate the response, Thank You! Do you know if there is something that we can use to replace them. It makes sense that they dont like fast-rising voltage, they are failing as soon as we plug them into power.

 

What I'd do is unmount the capacitor from an undamaged board and measure its capacitance. Then find a suitable substitute of some other sturdier type and rated for a higher voltage, such as polyester. Or another option would be to use two tantalum caps of twice the value currently being used connected in series so that the voltage across each would be split in half.

Tantalum caps have the advantage of being very stable through temperature changes.

Yet another thing that I'd be looking out for is to make sure that those caps have been properly mounted (polarity-wise) on their boards.

 

Some tantalum types are more tolerant, but don't know of any off hand. It has been several years since I've bought surface mount tantalums. AVX and Kemet used to have good ranges. You should be able to find selector guides on-line.

It may also be helpful to use a voltage rating that is well above the operating voltage, for example 10 or 16 V rated for a 5 V circuit rather than 6.3 V rated. Tantalums are the only capacitor type I know of where voltage derating is routinely recommended. AVX and Kemet should have ap notes that discuss this.

There are "polymer" tantalums around now, and they have impressive specifications in some ways, but I really know almost nothing about them.

 

There are certain tantalum capacitors that have the strange gizmo.

Here is a picture from Newark, of a VISHAY 594D Series capacitor: