Low ESR Capacitors 
(Tech support: tpmg@niccomp.com )

Demand for low ESR (ESR = Equivalent Series Resistance) surface mount (SMT) capacitors is rapidly growing due to industry wide trend towards distributed power management driven by lower voltage circuit design (powering lower voltage silicon devices). Higher levels of complexity - functions in today's designs means the power levels have not decreased with voltage. 

Ohm's law gives us I = P/V
If within an electronic circuit the operation voltage (V) decreases (example from 5V to 2.0V or 1.0V) and the power (P) stays the same (example 20W) we see that circuit current (I) level rises from (4Amp to 10A or 20A respectively). This greatly increases the requirements on the "power management" circuit (power supply or DC/DC converter) to supply high current at low voltage.

The output capacitor (or capacitor bank) will have a ripple voltage (seen as noise on the supply voltage) proportional to the ESR of the capacitor (or capacitor bank). 

V = I X R ... Ripple voltage = Current X ESR

If the current increases from 4A to 20A, within a circuit, the ripple voltage will increase by a factor of FIVE. This increased noise cannot be tolerated, so the ESR of the capacitors must be reduced.  

Compounding the need for low ESR further, is the reduced circuit (silicon) tolerance to voltage variation (noise and line droops).
 

NPC Series   Solid Aluminum Polymer Electrolyte Ultra Low ESR   Molded Flat Chip 100KHz ESR = 0.007ohm 100KHz RCR = 3.5Arms     Build FREE Kit including NPC Part Numbers [LINK]   Frequency Characteristics [LINK]

High capacitance value (>100uF) electrolytic capacitors are needed (and commonly called out) within today's power management circuits to deliver energy during high load current stepping. MLLC (ceramic chip capacitors) are also used in >1uF (typically X7R / X5R) due to even lower ESR provided by these types. Multiple capacitors (capacitor bank) using electrolytic and MLCC types are often used, to supply the energy needed during rapid changes in load current demand, as seen by the power management circuit. Virtually every segment of the electronics industry is using - requiring low ESR capacitors. All the major capacitor producers are offering (or developing) lower ESR electrolytic capacitor products. 

1uF ~ 100uF Ceramic Chip Capacitors >100uF Polymer Cathode Low ESR Tantalum E-Caps >100uF Solid Aluminum Polymer Electrolyte E-Caps >1000uF Radial Leaded Low ESR Aluminum E-Caps

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