KEMET Corporation (NYSE: KEM), a leading manufacturer of tantalum, ceramic, aluminum, film, paper and electrolytic capacitors, today introduced the industry's first polymer capacitors suitable for the military and aerospace markets. As part of the T540 and T541 Polymer COTS Series, these capacitors are targeted for decoupling and filtering applications that require very low equivalent series resistance (ESR).

"KEMET's T540 and T541 Polymer COTS Series' are the first-to-market COTS product lines utilizing an organic conductive polymer as the cathode plate of the capacitor," said Stanley Garrett, KEMET Technical Product Manager. "This technology results in low ESR, high ripple current capability and improved capacitance retention at high frequency. These performance characteristics are ideal for various high reliability military and aerospace applications such as radar, sonar, power supplies and guidance systems."

The T540 and T541 Series are part of the KEMET Organic Capacitor (KO-CAP) product family. KO-CAPs are tantalum capacitors with a Ta anode and Ta2O5 dielectric. A conductive organic polymer replaces the more common MnO2 as the cathode plate of the capacitor. KO-CAPs may also be operated at steady state voltages at up to 90% of rated voltage for part types with rated voltages of less than or equal to 10 volts and up to 80% of rated voltage for part types >10 volts. These products are available with a tin lead (SnPb) leadframe finish, surge current testing options and standard or low ESR levels.

The KO-CAP polymer cathode technology, combined with a multiple anode design, enables the T541 Series to deliver the lowest ESR values in the industry.