Ceramic Capacitors

Ceramic Capacitors are capacitors which use ceramic as the dielectric.  Ceramic capacitors are one of the earliest type of capacitors.  Today, Ceramic capacitors are the most widely produced type of capacitors.  


Ceramic capacitors are not polarized which means that they can be used in AC applications.  They can be connected in any polarity in DC applications.  They have excellent frequency characteristics

and have low parasitic effects (unwanted resistance and inductance).  Ceramic Capacitors usually have small capacitance values of the order of nano or microfarads.  

Ceramic capacitors are of two major types, the Multi Layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) and the ceramic disc capacitor.  

On the basis of precision and tolerance, ceramic capacitors can be classified into Class 1 and Class 2 capacitors.  

Class 1 capacitors are used in situations where high stability and low losses are desired.  These capacitors have high accuracy.  

Class 2 capacitors are used in applications where moderate sensitivity and accuracy will be sufficient.  These capacitors have high capacitance per volume and are used in less sensitive applications.