Aluminum Electrolytic vs. Aluminum Polymer Capacitor and How its Benefits are Used Properly

Aluminum polymer capacitor (also called polymer electrolytic capacitors or in short polymer e-caps) is a sub-form of electrolytic capacitors. The special feature of these capacitor types is that a conductive polymer is used instead of a liquid electrolyte. Furthermore, there is the possibility of a hybrid construction of electrolytic capacitors. This is a combination of wet electrolyte and solid polymer. Aluminum electrolytic and aluminum polymer capacitors have very good behavior against bias effects of voltage and temperature. Furthermore, aluminum polymer capacitors have very good aging characteristics. In comparison to ceramic capacitors, polymer electrolytic capacitors offer significant advantages, especially their DC bias performance. In addition, the use of polymer capacitors becomes interesting when increasing the capacitance while maintaining cost. The special design process can also be used to significantly reduce the parasitic effects (especially ESL). This means the potential to handle high ripple current, have low parasitic inductance, high reliability and very good temperature properties.