Using KEMET Spice to Create Customized EDA Models for Capacitors

There are many electronic design automation (EDA) models available from several capacitor manufacturers, but usually at room ambient temperatures, and with no DC bias. It is well known that the temperature sensitivity of the dielectrics creates a known change on the capacitance or the reactive element of these devices, but it also influences the resistive element of these devices. In many cases, the impact on the resistive element is much larger than the impact on the capacitance. With the higher dielectric constant ceramic capacitors used to achieve miniature surfacemount chips, the impact of the DC bias can drive the capacitance down to 10% of the original value as well as influencing the resistive element. The models created for these devices are also impacted by temperature and voltage. The KEMET Spice software was built to allow these models to be compensated by these conditions and models created for all capacitors at different conditions are created quickly and easily.