High Temperature Performance of Polymer Film Capacitors

The development of compact, thermally stable, high energy density, power conditioning capacitors has been identified to be one of the most difficult technological barriers in the design of high temperature electronic systems. High energy density capacitors are made of multiple, very thin layers of high dielectric constant insulating material. However, the polymer insulating films which are mechanically and electrically stable to the highest temperature, such as polyimide and teflon, also have the lowest dielectric constants and are the most difficult to make in very thin layers. This paper presents the collected results of research efforts to characterize and improve the high temperature performance of polymer capacitors. Temperature boundaries and the variation in dielectric properties with temperature and time are identified for a number of these films.