High-Performance Capacitors To Meet The Needs Of Demanding Aerospace And Defense Applications

From military aircraft to electronic warfare defense systems, aerospace and defense applications are placing new demands on their power electronics. Defense electronics systems must function reliably for their lifetime while operating at higher voltages and wider temperature ranges, and all while becoming smaller, lighter, and consuming less power.

These demands are causing a new trend in circuit design. Electrical engineers are now shifting from using conventional silicon-based (Si) semiconductors to wide-bandgap semiconductors built with silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN). This is because electronic components built using these materials can switch faster, are more efficient, and have lower size, weight, and power (SWaP) then traditional Si-based options. As this shift is occurring, the “jobs” that need to be done by capacitors used in the power electronics systems of these aerospace and defense applications are changing as well.