Micro ceramic chip capacitors for surface mounting on printed circuit boards are usually available in two types: Single Layer Capacitor (SLC) and Multi-layer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC). These two types of chip capacitors are widely used in radio frequency circuits and microwave circuits due to their small size. The capacity of single-layer capacitors can range from 0.05pF to 10000pF, the DC rated operating voltage can reach 100V, and the operating frequency of single-layer capacitors can reach up to 100GHz. The capacity range of multilayer ceramic capacitors is wider than that of single-layer capacitors, and its DC rated working voltage can be as high as 7200V. It is mainly used in high-frequency electrical signals below 3GHz.
Compared with multilayer ceramic capacitors, single-layer capacitors have lower series equivalent resistance, high quality factor and high reliability, which can better meet the stringent requirements of microwave and millimeter-wave frequency band electronic circuits. And its thinner thickness can be widely used in microwave integrated circuits (Microwave Integrated Circuit, MIC) and microwave monolithic integrated circuits (Microwave Monolithic Integrated Circuit, MMIC), such as: amplifiers, oscillators and mixers, etc., can realize Functions such as DC blocking, RF bypass, active bypass, filtering, impedance matching and coplanar waveguide.
Capacitors are essential passive coponents in circuit design. With so many capacitor sizes to choose from today, it can be difficult to determine which capacitor is best for your application. Early in the circuit design, engineers need to decide whether to choose a single layer capacitor (SLC) or a multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) to meet the application needs. In general, the two seem to have similar functions, because whether it is SLC or MLCC, they can be used for charging and storing, filtering or bypassing in the circuit. To determine which one best fits your needs, let’s start with their respective basic structures. SLC is the most basic type of capacitor, which has only one dielectric material or insulating layer between the positive and negative electrodes. MLCC is based on the basic principle of SLC design, and multi-layer electrodes are layered and embedded in the dielectric of a single capacitor. The capacitance value of MLCC obtained from this is equivalent to the capacitance used by multiple SLCs in parallel. Although in terms of thickness, MLCC is slightly thicker than SLC, it can achieve larger capacitance in a smaller volume-this is the radio frequency, microwave The key factors that need to be considered in class applications. The figure below shows the basic structure of SLC and MLCC.
