The history of high Q porcelain capacitors has followed the evolution of solid-state technology. There is a trace in the late 60's with the first projects of Motorola and RCA regarding UHF transistor power amplifiers, in fact for the HF and VHF bands they are already used types "mica Unelco" but they gave no satisfactory results in UHF. In the presence of high-power tubes (valves) the involved impedances were moderate - high, so it was worked with high voltages and low currents. With the power transistors there is low or very low impedances on the base and collector, in such applications matching and tuning circuits, have to transform the impedances from very low to 50 Ω, it means to work with high current and low voltage.

With this new type of design was necessary to have a low ESR capacitors (Equivalent Series Resistance), this is indeed the main parameter to consider the entire evolution of high-Q capacitors. The loss in a capacitor is indicated by its tan δ, or dissipation factor. The ESR shows the equivalent resistance in series to the capacitor, which dissipates power as heat and introduces attenuation.

This table clearly shows the behavior of 3 different types of capacitors in presence of medium power (1A) and high power (3 A), it is strongly suggested to avoid a dissipation power of only 1 W in a capacitor.

The ESR acts as a double effect, first because it dissipates power and introduces attenuation, second because the power dissipation is a cause itself of self-heating and so of a further deterioration in terms of electrical characteristics that decrease the life of the capacitor.

	SRF improvement in ATC100 capacitors case A or B ATC 100 capacitors are usually mounted with the electrodes parallel to the plane ( printed circuit board ), the label corresponding to the capacitor value is parallel to the printed circuit board. We tested with the network analyzer the SRF of a 62 pF case B capacitor parallel oriented . For this capacitor's value is guaranteed an SRF > 900 MHz , in fact the network analyzer shows an SRF of 1550 MHz . The picture below shows the improvement of SRF with vertical orientation at 2.7 GHz. The same with 4.7 pF case A , for this capacitor's value is guaranteed an SRF > 4 GHz , in fact the network analyzer shows an SRF of 7.6 GHz . The picture below shows the improvement of SRF with vertical orientation at 12.3 GHz. These two tests demonstrate how it is possible to improve the self resonant frequency in multilayer capacitors, we suggest this improvent only for ultra wide band applications , where you have capacitors with the SRF into the frequency range of the application . For narrow band applications this improvement is not necessary . The SRF effect is due to very complex mechanisms related to the phase differences of the varios electrodes in multilayer capacitors.
62pF case B
4.7pF case A

The multilayer structure provides a very low inductance series and ESR resistance series and a considerable RF current because the result is like a parallel of many capacitors. They are built with high-purity ceramic (porcelain), they have a remarkable thermal stability even under extreme environmental conditions even with temperature and humidity variations. ATC capacitors are even used in low noise front ends from VHF to microwave used togheter with low noise GaAs-FET you can reach outstanding performances.

100B series extended voltage

The ATC 100B series extended voltage differs from the standard series for a higher isolation voltage that for values up to 100pF reaches 1500V, 1000V for 470pF and gradually decreasing until 300V for the value of 1000pF.

By the parameters provided by ATC it is possible to notice a marked increase in the maximum current that for low and medium capacity and up to about 200/400 MHz appears to be three times higher, while ESR (equivalent series resistance) and SRF (self resonance frequency) remain unchanged.

This peculiarity has led us to search for maximum withstood current even compared to the ATC 100C series (100C series is characterized by a strong current and higher voltage suitable for even higher power but with a very high cost). By the parameters provided by ATC in fact we noticed that the 100B extended voltage series can withstand a comparable current, but sometimes even higher, than the 100C series. As a rule of thumb it can be considered that the 100B extended voltage series is comparable to the 100C series for frequencies above 15-60 MHz and for capacity over 4.7pF.

The ATC 100B extended voltage series is very competitive compared to the 100C series, in many cases can solve the problem of the maximum dissipation compared to the 100B standard series with a higher cost of only 15%.

As an example here some parameters values provided by ATC.

800B SERIES

The 800B series is the latest addition to the ATC production, it is characterized by a very low ESR (equivalent series resistance) due to the use of silver electrodes. It is designed mainly for applications beyond 200 MHz where the improvement of the ESR and heat transfer are particularly remarkable and involve an increase of the maximum current.

Among the key features of the 800B series there is also a better SRF (self resonance frequency) and NP0 thermal stability, the "standard" isolation voltage is equal to 100B and 700B series, also footprint size is exactly the same.

As an example here some parameters values provided by ATC.