Do you know KEMET has different reliability grade levels based on customer applications? Why would a customer choose an automotive grade ceramic capacitor over an aerospace grade capacitor? What are the difference between these and other KEMET grades? Come and find out more about this topic.

1. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
KEMET Ceramic Reliability Grades:
Which one should I choose?
June, 2019

2. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Agenda
• Introduction
• Reliability in Ceramic Capacitors
• Full Grade Range
• Commercial
• Automotive
• COTS (Commercial off the Shelf)
• Military
• Space
• Custom
• Medical
• Conclusion

3. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
MLCCs are Everywhere
MLCC’s per car
ICE = 2,500 & growing
EV = >10,000 & growing
AUTOMATED ELECTRIFIED CONNECTED SHARED
~500
~700
> 1000
S7
i6S
S8
i7
S9
iX
MLCC’s per
Smartphone
MLCC
DEMAND
DRIVERS

4. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Why are Ceramic Capacitors so Popular?
• Very reliable
• Low ppm failure rates
• Long life – Billions of hours
• Small form factor
• Wide operating temperature range
• Low cost

5. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
MLCCs
C = Design Capacitance
K = Dielectric Constant
A = Overlap Area
d = Ceramic Thickness
n = Number of Electrodes
C = e0KA(n-1)
d
Detailed Cross Section
Inner Electrode
End Termination
Barrier Layer
Termination Finish
Dielectric Material
CV = Capacitance x Voltage

6. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
MLCCs
Layer Count Progression
0.1 µF/50V (PME)
(12 µm layers, n= 30 )
1.0 µF/25V (PME)
(8 µm layers, n=100 )
2000- 4.7 µF/16V
(225 4 µm layers)
10 µF/6V
(300 3 µm layers)
22 µF/6V
(500 1.8 µm layers)
47 µF/4V
(600 1 µm layers)Class 2 1206 (EIA)
1988 Today

7. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Reliability in Ceramic Capacitors
What do we mean?
Ability for the capacitor, under normal conditions, to operate within the specification over it’s
lifetime with few or no failures.
What we don’t mean
Excessive Mechanical
Stress (Flex)
Excessive Voltage Excessive Temperature Voltage Transients

8. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The Bathtub Curve
Time
FailureRate
Infant Mortalities
Decreasing Failure Rate
Wear-Out
Increasing Failure Rate
Normal life
Material and processing defects End of life
Latent defects

9. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The Bathtub Curve
What does higher reliability do?
Time
FailureRate
Normal life
Decrease/Remove
infant mortalities
Push wear-out region
further out in time
Decrease normal
life failure rate

10. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Increasing Reliability in Ceramic Capacitors
How is it done?
 More conservative designs
 Design and change control
 Full material traceability
 In process testing
 End of Line testing
 Burn-in / Voltage conditioning
 Strict oversight on materials
and processes

11. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
What Drives Higher Reliability in Capacitors?
Cost of Failure SafetyInability to Fix

12. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
There’s Always a Tradeoff
Reliability Grade

13. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
13
KEMET Ceramics Reliability Grades
Commercial
Automotive
COTS
Military
Space
Custom
KEMET M3 Medical Grade

14. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
14
Commercial Grade
• Features
• Highest CVs possible
• Smallest case sizes
• Highest volumes
• Lowest Cost
• Qualification – Determined by manufacturer
• Base Testing Protocol:
• Electrical Testing - 100% Cap / DF / IR & DWV
• Physical Inspection - 100% Sample basis
• Solderability - 100% Sample basis
• Applications – General purpose, consumer electronics, etc
Max CV
CVScale

15. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
15
Automotive Grade
• Features
• Increased Reliability vs Commercial Grade
• High CVs (close to Commercial)
• Small case sizes
• Volumes ~10x lower than commercial
• Low cost slightly above commercial
• Qualification - Automotive Electronics Council’s AEC-Q200
• Base Testing Protocol + Additions:
• 100% Visual Inspection
• End of Line Testing
• PPAP
• Product Change Notification
• Applications – Under the hood, power train, sensors, infotainment
Max CV
CVScale

16. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
16
Detailed Comparison

17. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
17
COTS
Commercial Off the shelf
• Features
• Higher Reliability Applications
• High CVs (close to Commercial and Automotive)
• Much lower volumes than Commercial and Automotive
• Lower Cost vs Military Grade
• Qualification – By manufacturer. KEMET’s COTS based on AEC-Q200
• Base Testing Protocol + Additions:
• 100% Visual Inspection
• Burn-in, Voltage conditioning with PDA
• Electricals with PDA
• Destructive Physical Analysis (DPA)
• Humidity Testing
• Customizable with drawing
• Applications – Military applications
Max CV
CVScale

18. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
18
Detailed Comparison

19. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
19
Military Grade
“Standard” and “Established” Reliability
• Features
• Military Defined Standard and Established Reliability
• Very conservative designs
• Constructed per MIL Standards
• Lower CVs
• Qualification and Testing – Defined by DLA (Defense Logistics Agency)
• MIL-PRF-55681
• MIL-PRF-32535 M-Level
• Additional
• Periodic inspection for electrical, environmental, and mechanical.
• Group Data and Test Summaries
• Single Lot Date Code
• Applications – Non-critical military applications such as communications
devices, ground weapons, military equipment not used for navigation and
Safety
Max CV
CVScale

20. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
20
Space Grade
• Features
• Military Defined High Reliability
• Very conservative designs
• Constructed per MIL Standards
• Lowest CVs
• Qualification and Testing – Defined by DLA (Defense Logistics Agency)
• MIL-PRF-123
• MIL-PRF-32535 T-Level
• Additional
• Every lot receives electrical, environmental, and mechanical.
• Group Data and Test Summaries
• Single Lot Date Code
• Applications – Space, missiles, avionic safety and navigation equipment
Max CV
CVScale

21. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
21

22. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
22
KEMET Custom
Per customer request
• Customer Drawing
✓ Design per customer spec
✓ Custom In Process Screening
✓ Custom Group Testing
✓ Application Specific SCD’s
✓ Group Data and Test Summaries
✓ Material Analytics & Test Reports
✓ Single Lot Date Code per spec
• Qualification per customer spec.
• Change Control per spec.

23. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Medical Grade
What is Medical Grade?
Automotive Grade
Reliability Grade
AEC-Q200
VW AUDI 80808
Specification
Military Grade
MIL-PRF-55681
MIL-PRF-32535, M-Level
MIL-PRF-49470, B-Level
Space Grade
MIL-PRF-123
MIL-PRF-32535, T-Level
MIL-PRF-49470, T-Level
Medical Grade ???????

24. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Medical Grade
What is Medical Grade?
Medical
Customer 1
Medical
Customer 2
Medical
Customer 3
Medical
Customer 4
“Medical Grade”
Capacitor
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Medical
Customer
Major Medical OEMs
New Medical Customers

25. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
25
Medical Grade
• Features
• Baseline solution for Class III medical devices
• Custom testing and screening available upon request
• Enhanced designs
• Lot traceability down to raw materials
• 100% voltage conditioning
• End of Line Screening
• Data Submission
• Change Approval
• Applications – Class III Medical Devices, Cardiac Pacemakers,
Neuromodulation devices, Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD
Max CV
CVScale

26. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved. 26
Medical Grade
M3
SCD
M3+CSPEC
Customer
Specific Testing
Customer
Specific Data
Customer
Specific
Change
Approval
Customer
Specific
Designs
Customer
Specific
Requirement
Customer
Specific
Requirement
Customer
Specific
Requirement
Customer
Specific
Requirement
Customer
Specific
Requirement
Baseline Solution for FDA Class III Medical Devices
✓ Enhanced designs
✓ Lot traceability down to raw materials
✓ 100% voltage conditioning
✓ End of line screening
✓ Data submission,
✓ Change approval

27. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Summarizing KEMET Ceramics Reliability Grades
From Left to Right
Benefits of Moving to the Right
• More robust and conservative designs
• Improved processes with design and change control
• Enhanced in-process testing
• Burn-in and PDA
• Lot testing with data submission
Tradeoffs of Moving to the Right
• Increased cost
• Decreased volume
• Decreased CV values
Effect on Reliability
• Reduction and/or elimination of infant mortals
• Reduction of normal life failures
• Increase in MTTF

28. © KEMET Electronics Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
MAKING THE WORLD A BETTER, SAFER,
MORE CONNECTED PLACE TO LIVE.
KEMET100.COM #KEMET100
Thank you!
Mark Laps
Technical Product Manager - Ceramics
KEMET Electronics
marklaps@kemet.com