Conductivity Mechanisms and Breakdown Characteristics of Niobium Oxide Capacitors

Niobium Oxide capacitor, has already found its place in the market as a cost effective and reliable non-burning component. The study of conductivity mechanisms has been done to prove its excellent stability, reliability and non-burning performance. Set of electrical measurements as VA characteristics in forward and reverse mode, frequency characteristics of capacitance, temperature or time dependence of basic parameters together with measurements of basic physical parameters enabled to propose the theoretical model of NbO- Nb2O5- MnO2 system. NbO Capacitor shows identical conductivity mechanism as tantalum capacitor, but furthermore a unique mechanism appears after dielectric breakdown. It causes a high resistance failure mode of NbO capacitor and limits the current bellow the capacitor's thermal runaway point, which prevents capacitor's burning, whereas filtering characteristics remain unchanged. © A VX Corporation 200