7/20/2008 - Tantalum capacitor for military apps

When it comes to solid tantalum capacitors, a gap exists between what is available commercially and what is available in MIL specifications. Because the commercial industry drives new capacitor technology development, military-qualified capacitor offerings have not kept pace with technology advancements.

Defense electronics designers require the latest in technology, but lacking the availability of MIL-specified capacitors, they will often select standard commercial products without screening. Unfortunately, these capacitors are not intended for high-reliability military applications, and may lead to reliability issues.

Tantalum capacitor Available solutions

Historically, there have been few solutions to help bridge this gap. These include customer-developed source control drawings, where the customer provides the specifications to screen the capacitors, and Defense Supply Center Columbus (DSCC) drawings. Until recently, the industry as a whole has not done a good job of making customers aware of the need for screening commercial capacitors.

Also, customers were forced to seek out solutions from manufacturers. Therefore these solutions lack consistency between specifications, as they are available by customer request on a case-by-case basis. In addition, they are often developed as a solution to an existing reliability problem, and implementing them could involve a costly retrofit.

To bridge the gap, manufacturers now offer and promote high-reliability (Hi-Rel) commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) tantalum capacitor. These products combine the reliability required in demanding military applications with the latest in capacitor technology required to meet challenging design goals.b