Tantalum Capacitors for Implantable and Life Support Applications

AVX Corporation has released its new TBC Series HRC6000 medical implantable grade tantalum capacitors. Delivering lower dc leakage (DCL) values than any previous offering — down to 0.0025CV or 25% of typical industry limits — and requiring significantly less voltage de-rating than the standard 50% recommendation for solid tantalum capacitors — as low as 20% for filtering and 0% for pacing, hold-up, and charging — the series is designed for medical implantable and life support applications.

TBC Series HRC6000 capacitors are manufactured using AVX’s patented Q-Process, which was developed to replace the Weibull Reliability Assessment as the industry standard for tantalum capacitors due to its tendency to burn-in potentially unstable units. In use since 2013, the Q-Process, which has enhanced screening imbedding in it, effectively removes components that may experience parametric shifts through customer processing or display instability through life testing, ensures stable and normalized DCL distribution, and provides reliability level verification through life testing to a minimum of 0.1% per 1,000 hours with a 90% confidence level.

“The TBC HRC6000 medical grade series is the next generation of our internally qualified medical grade tantalum capacitors,” said Brian Brunette, high reliability tantalum applications engineer, AVX. “Manufactured and screened using our patented Q-Process, which utilizes a product level designation system based on a simulated production routine performed on a sample population and a calculation that is both based on the performance of the sample and takes the application conditions of end customers into account, this system allows for remarkably relaxed de-rating recommendations.”

Currently available in three case sizes (0603, 0805, and 1411), three rated voltages (4V, 6V, and 10V), three capacitance tolerances (±5%, ±10%, and ±20%), and with capacitance values spanning 2.2μF to 68μF, the series is rated for use in operating temperatures ranging from -55 to +125 degrees C. At present, 0603 size components are available rated for 2.2μF to 4.7μF and all three voltages, 0805 components are available rated for 6.8μF to 22μF and all three voltages, and 1411 components are available rated for 33μF to 68μF and two voltages: 6V and 10V.

TBC Series HRC6000 medical implantable grade capacitors are also available with one of three termination finishes: solder fused, gold-plated, and 100% matte tin, the latter two of which are lead-free compatible and RoHS compliant. Lead time for the series is 12 weeks, and components can be shipped in bulk, on 7” tape and reel, or in waffle packaging.