Dielectric absorption 1

Dielectric absorption
Dielectric absorption is the name given to the effect by which a capacitor that has been charged for a long time
discharges only incompletely when briefly discharged. Although an ideal capacitor would remain at zero volts after
being discharged, real capacitors will develop a small voltage coming from time-delayed dipole discharging, a
phenomenon that is also called dielectric relaxation, "soakage" or "battery action". For some dielectrics, such as
many polymer films, the resulting voltage may be less than 1-2% of the original voltage, but it can be as much as
15% for electrolytic capacitors. The voltage at the terminals generated by the dielectric absorption may possibly
cause problems in the function of an electronic circuit or can be a safety risk to personnel. In order to prevent shocks
most very large capacitors are shipped with shorting wires that need to be removed before they are used.[1]

Theory
Charging a capacitor (due to a voltage between the capacitor plates)
causes an electric field to be applied to the dielectric between the
electrodes. This field exerts a torque on the molecular dipoles causing
the directions of the dipole moments to align with the field direction.
This change in the molecular dipoles is called oriented polarization and
also causes heat to be generated, resulting in dielectric losses, see
dissipation factor. The orientation of the dipoles does not follow the
electric field synchronously, but is delayed by a time constant that
depends on the material. This delay corresponds to a hysteresis
response of the polarization to the external field. The random orientations of molecular dipoles in a
dielectric are aligned under the influence of an
When the capacitor is discharging, the strength of the electric field is electric field by applying a voltage to the
decreasing and the common orientation of the molecular dipoles is electrodes

returning to an undirected state in a process of relaxation. Due to the

hysteresis, at the zero point of the electric field, a material-dependent
number of molecular dipoles are still polarized along the field direction
without a measurable voltage appearing at the terminals of the
capacitor. This is like an electrical remanence. The oriented dipoles
will be discharged spontaneously over time and the voltage at the
electrodes of the capacitor will decay exponentially.[2] The complete
discharge time of all dipoles can take days to weeks depending on the
material. This "reloaded" voltage can be retained for months, even in
electrolytic capacitors, caused by the high insulation resistance in Circuit model for explaining a time-delayed
common modern capacitor dielectrics. The discharge of a capacitor and voltage build-up by parallel RC-timers
the subsequent reloading can be repeated several times.

An example of the reloading of a capacitor is illustrated using the Java circuit simulator.[3]

Measurement
Dielectric absorption is a property which has been long known. The value of it can be measured in accordance with
IEC/EN 60384-1 standard. The capacitor shall be charged at the d.c. voltage rating for 60 minutes. Then the
capacitor shall be disconnected from the power source and shall be discharged for 10 s. The voltage regained on the
capacitor terminals (recovery voltage) within 15 minutes is the dielectric absorption voltage. The size of the
dielectric absorption voltage is specified in relation to the applied voltage in percent and depends on the dielectric
Dielectric absorption 2

material used. It is specified by many manufacturers in the data sheets.[4][5][6][7]

Type of capacitor Dielectric Absorption

Air and vacuum capacitors Not measurable

Class-1 ceramic capacitors, NP0 0.6%

Class-2 ceramic capacitors, X7R 2.5%

Polypropylene film capacitors (PP) 0.05 to 0.1%

Polyester film capacitors (PET) 0.2 to 0.5%

Polyphenylene sulfide film capacitors (PPS) 0.05 to 0.1%

Polyethylene naphthalate film capacitors (PEN) 1.0 to 1.2%

Tantalum electrolytic capcitors with solid electrolyte [8] [9]

2 to 3 %, 10 %

Aluminium electrolytic capacitors with non solid electrolyte 10 to 15%

Double-layer capacitor data not available

Design considerations and safety

The voltage at the terminals generated by the dielectric absorption may possibly cause problems in the function of an
electronic circuit. For sensitive analog circuits such as sample and hold circuits, integrators, charge amplifiers or
high-quality audio circuits, Class-1 ceramic or polypropylene capacitors instead of Class-2 ceramic capacitors,
polyester film capacitors or electrolytic capacitors are used.[10] For most electronic circuits, particularly filtering
applications, the small dielectric absorption voltage has no influence on the proper electrical function of the circuit.
For aluminum electrolytic capacitors with non-solid electrolyte which are not built into a circuit, the dielectric
absorption voltage generated can be a personnel safety risk.[11] The voltage can be quite substantial, for example
50 V for 400 V electrolytic capacitors, and can cause damages to semiconductor devices, or cause sparks during
installation in the circuit. Larger aluminum electrolytic capacitors and high-voltage power capacitors are transported
and delivered short circuited to dissipate this unwanted and possibly dangerous energy.
Another effect of dielectric absorption is sometimes described as "soakage". This manifests as a component of
leakage current and it contributes to the loss factor of the capacitor. This effect has been known of only
recently:Wikipedia:Verifiability it is now a proportionately greater part of leakage current due to the significantly
improved properties of modern capacitors.[12]
For double-layer capacitors, there are no figures from manufacturers available.

References
[1] * Modeling Dielectric Absorption in Capacitors, by Ken Kundert (http:/ / www. designers-guide. org/ Modeling/ da. pdf)
[2] Elliot sound products, 2.1 - Dielectric Absorption (http:/ / sound. westhost. com/ articles/ capacitors. htm#2. 1)
[3] http:/ / www. falstad. com/ circuit/ #%24+ 1+ 5. 0E-6+ 10. 20027730826997+ 50+ 5. 0+ 50%0Ac+ 288+ 144+ 288+ 192+ 0+ 1.
9999999999999998E-5+ 1. 7264781026323446%0Ac+ 352+ 144+ 352+ 192+ 0+ 2. 9999999999999997E-5+ 1. 700142159226915%0Ac+
416+ 144+ 416+ 192+ 0+ 3. 9999999999999996E-5+ 1. 674377436769057%0Ac+ 480+ 144+ 480+ 192+ 0+ 4. 9999999999999996E-5+ 1.
74667957928016%0Ac+ 544+ 144+ 544+ 192+ 0+ 5. 9999999999999995E-5+ 1. 9247249279676366%0Ac+ 240+ 144+ 240+ 192+ 0+ 1.
0E-5+ 1. 7338489907138075%0Ar+ 240+ 192+ 240+ 256+ 0+ 100. 0%0Ar+ 288+ 192+ 288+ 256+ 0+ 200. 0%0Ar+ 352+ 192+ 352+ 256+
0+ 300. 0%0Ar+ 416+ 192+ 416+ 256+ 0+ 400. 0%0Ar+ 480+ 192+ 480+ 256+ 0+ 500. 0%0Ar+ 544+ 192+ 544+ 256+ 0+ 600. 0%0Aw+
544+ 144+ 480+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 480+ 144+ 416+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 416+ 144+ 352+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 352+ 144+ 288+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 288+
144+ 240+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 240+ 144+ 160+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 544+ 256+ 480+ 256+ 0%0Aw+ 480+ 256+ 416+ 256+ 0%0Aw+ 416+ 256+
352+ 256+ 0%0Aw+ 352+ 256+ 288+ 256+ 0%0Aw+ 288+ 256+ 240+ 256+ 0%0AS+ 96+ 128+ 160+ 128+ 0+ 0+ false+ 0%0Aw+ 240+
256+ 176+ 256+ 0%0AR+ 48+ 144+ 48+ 96+ 0+ 0+ 40. 0+ 5. 0+ 0. 0+ 0. 0+ 0. 5%0Aw+ 48+ 144+ 96+ 128+ 0%0Aw+ 544+ 144+ 608+
144+ 0%0Aw+ 544+ 256+ 608+ 256+ 0%0Ap+ 608+ 144+ 608+ 256+ 0%0AS+ 176+ 256+ 112+ 256+ 0+ 1+ false+ 0%0Ag+ 112+ 384+
112+ 416+ 0%0Aw+ 112+ 384+ 112+ 272+ 0%0As+ 96+ 208+ 160+ 208+ 0+ 1+ true%0Aw+ 160+ 160+ 160+ 144+ 0%0Aw+ 96+ 240+
Dielectric absorption 3

96+ 208+ 0%0Aw+ 96+ 240+ 112+ 240+ 0%0Ar+ 160+ 160+ 160+ 208+ 0+ 10. 0%0Ao+ 29+ 64+ 0+ 34+ 8. 183476519740355+ 9.
765625000000001E-155+ 0+ -1%0A+
[4] WIMA, Characteristics of Metallized film capacitors in Comparison with Other Dielectrics (http:/ / www. wima. de/ EN/ characteristics. htm)
[5] Film Capacitors, TDK Epcos, General technical information (http:/ / www. epcos. com/ web/ generator/ Web/ Sections/ ProductCatalog/
Capacitors/ FilmCapacitors/ PDF/ PDF__GeneralTechnicalInformation,property=Data__en. pdf;/ PDF_GeneralTechnicalInformation. pdf)
[6] AVX, Dielectric Comparison Chart (http:/ / www. avx. com/ docs/ techinfo/ dielectr. pdf)
[7] Holystone, Capacitor Dielectric Comparison, Technical Note 3 (http:/ / www. holystonecaps. com/ PDF/ TechNotes/ 200712181125470.
Capdielectriccomp3. pdf)
[8] Kemet, Polymer Tantalum Chip Capacitors (http:/ / d0server1. fnal. gov/ users/ bagby/ www/ L1_Cal/ ORC_Docs/ Final_Orc/ ADF_CAPS/
KEMET_F3102PolTaPerChar. pdf)
[9] AVX, ANALYSIS OF SOLID TANTALUM CAPACITOR LEAKAGE CURRENT (http:/ / www. avx. com/ docs/ techinfo/ soltant. pdf)
[10] National Semiconductors, Understand Capacitor Soakage to Optimize Analog Systems (http:/ / www. national. com/ rap/ Application/
0,1570,28,00. html)
[11] (http:/ / www. keith-snook. info/ capacitor-soakage. html)
[12] AVX, Analysis of Solid Tantalum Capacitor Leakage Current (http:/ / www. avx. com/ docs/ techinfo/ soltant. pdf)

Further reading
• Understand Capacitor Soakage to Optimize Analog Systems, by Bob Pease, 1982 (http://www.national.com/
rap/Application/0,1570,28,00.html)
• Capacitor Soakage takes a RAP (http://www.keith-snook.info/capacitor-soakage.html)
Article Sources and Contributors 4

Article Sources and Contributors

Dielectric absorption  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=528780594  Contributors: Arydberg, Elcap, F=q(E+v^B), Fuhghettaboutit, Magioladitis, Malcolma, Ospalh, Pol098,
Reify-tech, Rpyle731, Spinningspark, Tabletop, Wdwd, 4 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

Image:Diel.gif  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Diel.gif  License: Public Domain  Contributors: hyperphysics
Image:Dielektrische Absorption.png  Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Dielektrische_Absorption.png  License: Creative Commons Zero  Contributors: Elcap

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