Tantalum capacitor - Basic electronics circuits

Tantalum capacitors invariably use solid electrolytes along with tantalum metal, and have much lower leakage than the aluminium types. This makes them eminently suitable for purposes such as signal coupling, filters, timing circuits and decoupling. The usual forms of these tantalum electrolytics capacitors are as epoxy-coated miniature beads or tubular axial types. The voltage range is 6.3 V to 35 V, with values of 0.1 µF to 100 µF.

Tantalum capacitor can be used without any DC bias, and can also accept a small reverse voltage, typically less than 1.0 V. A minimum leakage current of 1 µA is to be expected, and for the higher values of capacitance and working voltage the leakage current is found from the capacitance X voltage factor, subject to the minimum guaranteed value of 1 µA

Care should be taken not to exceed the surge voltage rating, typically 1.3 x rated DC voltage rating.

Tantalum capacitor photos