Tantalum capacitors key role and advantages in 5G and (IoT) devices

2025-03-02

With the development of society and the advancement of science and technology, 5G and the Internet of Everything technology are playing an increasingly important role in our production, life, and economic activities.

5G and the Internet of Everything technology have created a strong demand for tantalum capacitors. Tantalum capacitors play an important role in these devices.

Tantalum capacitors are mainly applied to the following modules in 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) devices:
 

Tantalum capacitors key role and advantages in  5G Devices

Power Module: In the BBU (Baseband Unit) and RRU (Remote Radio Unit) of 5G base stations, tantalum capacitors are used for power supply filtering. They can smooth the output voltage of the power supply, remove ripples, and provide a stable DC power supply for components such as chips, ensuring that the device is not affected by power fluctuations during high-load operation.

RF Module: In the RF circuits of 5G mobile phones, base stations and other devices, tantalum capacitors can serve as coupling capacitors, which are used to transmit AC signals and block DC components. This ensures the integrity and stability of RF signals, helps improve the quality of signal transmission and reception, and reduces signal distortion and interference.

Clock Module: In the clock circuits of 5G devices, tantalum capacitors, in cooperation with components such as resistors, can be used to stabilize the oscillation frequency, ensuring the accuracy and stability of the clock signal, and providing an accurate clock reference for the synchronization and data transmission of the entire device.
 

Tantalum capacitors key role and advantages in IoT Devices

Perception Layer Module

Sensor Circuit: In IoT sensors such as temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors, tantalum capacitors are used for energy storage, which can provide stable energy support during power fluctuations. At the same time, they are also used for filtering to remove the noise in the signals collected by the sensors, improving the accuracy and reliability of the data.

Actuator Circuit: For actuators such as motors and valves in the IoT, tantalum capacitors can provide instant large current in the drive circuit to meet the power requirements of the actuator during startup and operation. They can also smooth the power supply voltage to protect the actuator circuit from the impact of voltage fluctuations.

Communication Layer Module

Wireless Communication Module: In wireless communication modules such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and ZigBee, tantalum capacitors are used for power supply filtering and signal decoupling, ensuring a stable power supply during data transmission of the module, reducing electromagnetic interference, improving the stability and anti-interference ability of communication, and ensuring the accuracy and integrity of data transmission.
 

Wired Communication Module: In IoT devices using wired communication methods such as Ethernet, tantalum capacitors can be used for signal coupling and filtering, ensuring the quality of data signals during the transmission process and reducing signal attenuation and distortion.
 

Tantalum capacitors  Application Layer Module
 

Control Circuit: In the main control chip circuit of IoT devices, tantalum capacitors are used for power supply decoupling to provide a pure power supply for the chip, ensuring the stable operation of the chip. They can also be used for storing electrical energy to maintain a short-term power supply when the system loses power, ensuring that data is not lost.
 

Storage Circuit: In the power supply circuits of storage chips such as flash memory and EEPROM in IoT devices, tantalum capacitors can play the roles of smoothing the voltage and storing energy, preventing data errors or losses in the storage chips due to power fluctuations during data reading and writing.

In 5G and IoT devices, tantalum capacitors have many advantages over other types of capacitors in terms of electrical performance, stability, reliability, etc. The specific introduction is as follows:

Tantalum capacitors  Electrical Performance

High Capacitance Value: Tantalum capacitors can achieve a relatively high capacitance value in a small volume. For example, in 5G mobile phones or small IoT sensors where space is very precious, tantalum capacitors can provide sufficient capacitance within a limited space to meet the energy storage and filtering requirements of the circuit, which is helpful for the miniaturized design of the device.
 

Low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR): Tantalum capacitors have a relatively low ESR. In high-frequency circuits, such as the RF front-end circuits of 5G devices, they can effectively reduce energy loss, lower heat generation, and improve the circuit efficiency. At the same time, they can also better suppress voltage fluctuations and provide a stable power supply for high-frequency signals.
 

Good Frequency Characteristics: Within a wide frequency range, the capacitance and loss factor of tantalum capacitors change little, and they can maintain stable performance. This enables them to work reliably in various circuits of different frequencies in 5G and IoT devices, such as clock circuits and data transmission circuits, ensuring the stable transmission and processing of signals.

Tantalum capacitors  Stability and Reliability

Good Temperature Stability: Tantalum capacitors can maintain stable performance within a wide temperature range, generally operating normally in the temperature range of -55°C to +125°C. In outdoor devices such as 5G base stations and some industrial IoT applications, where the devices may face harsh environments such as high and low temperatures, the characteristics of tantalum capacitors can ensure that the devices operate stably under different temperature conditions.
 

Long Service Life: They have good chemical and mechanical stability and a relatively long service life under normal working conditions. For some IoT devices that need to run for a long time and are difficult to maintain, such as smart meters and remote sensor nodes, the use of tantalum capacitors can reduce the frequency of device maintenance or replacement due to capacitor failures, reducing costs.
 

Strong Anti-interference Ability: The dielectric material and structure of tantalum capacitors endow them with good anti-electromagnetic interference (EMI) and anti-radio frequency interference (RFI) capabilities. In the complex electromagnetic environment of 5G and IoT devices, they can effectively reduce the impact of external interference on the circuit, ensure the normal operation of the device, and improve the stability and reliability of the system.

Others

Clear Polarity: Tantalum capacitors have a clear polarity, which makes circuit design and installation more standardized and simple. When designing the circuits of 5G and IoT devices, engineers can more accurately use their characteristics for circuit layout and parameter configuration, reducing circuit failures caused by incorrect capacitor polarity.
 

Low Leakage Current: The leakage current of tantalum capacitors is usually lower than that of some other types of capacitors. This means that in applications such as energy storage and filtering, they can more effectively store charge, reduce energy loss, and improve the energy efficiency of the circuit. For battery-powered IoT devices, this helps to extend the battery life of the device.
 

Hongda Capacitors offer a wide range of Tantalum cap, dipped tantalum cap, SMD Tantalum cap, Wet Tantalum cap.

HD CA42 dipped Tan cap- cross to AVX TAP series

HD CA55 Polymer Tan cap -cross to AVX TCJ, TCM series, Vishay T55 series

HD CA45 Tan cap- cross to Kemet T489, T490, T491, T493 series

HD CA45L Low ESR Tan cap-cross to Vishay 593D

Wet Tantalum cap can cross to Vishay, Evans, which we have individual cross reference.

Welcome your inquiries from different industries, we have strong engineer team to do cross for you. It’s better to share your Whole BOM, we can help you do cost reduction. Please try me here:

Emily@hongdacap.com.hk