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RE: Use of Tantalums - DRSSTCs



Original poster: Terry Fritz <teslalist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,

Tantalum capacitors are known for not being terribly reliable. They are very finely made and if there is any contamination they will fail in the future. Now a days, they are getting pretty good at making them however. In high current applications, they can catch fire and burn up which is a real problem.

In the case of Dan's controller board, the tantalums failing are the very least of "my" concerns though ;-))) I will blow everything else up long before the tans decide to fail for whatever reason ;-)

Cheers,

        Terry



At 12:27 PM 12/7/2004, you wrote:
> > Tantalum capacitors are used almost everywhere.  In my line
>of work,  > which includes lately  > power system (avionics)
>work on the new F/A-22 Raptor as well as naval /  > ground
>based military radar  > systems, tantalum capacitors are used
>quite frequently.
>
>If I remember correctly from my military avionic experience
>tantalum caps were initially not used because of the life
>issues.  Eventually some versions did got approved. A mil spec
>tantalum cap may have a very different internal construction
>than a bead one.
>
>Bob

I believe the problem with past tantalum caps were the "wet" tantalums.
Also, most of the tantalums we use now for designs are COTS (commercial
off the shelf) tantalums.