iGSE-C<sub>D</sub>&#x2014;An Electric-/Displacement-Field Related Steinmetz Model for Class II Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors Under Low-Frequency Large-Signal Excitation

Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) are of paramount importance in electronics and ferroelectric Class II dielectrics enable outstanding energy-density values. However, the non-linear dielectric constant and associated low-frequency large-signal excitation losses of Class II MLCCs may cause critic...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: David Menzi, Morris Heller, George Kerridge, Peter Marley, Angela Ellmore, Shmuel Ben-Yaakov, Johann W. Kolar
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023-01-01
Series:IEEE Open Journal of Power Electronics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10032790/
Description
Summary:Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCCs) are of paramount importance in electronics and ferroelectric Class II dielectrics enable outstanding energy-density values. However, the non-linear dielectric constant and associated low-frequency large-signal excitation losses of Class II MLCCs may cause critical overheating. A peak-charge based Steinmetz loss model entitled iGSE-C<sub>Q</sub> is known in literature and allows to accurately calculate MLCC low-frequency large-signal excitation losses under various operating conditions including biased and non-sinusoidal excitation voltage waveforms. Such a macroscopic iGSE-C<sub>Q</sub> model, however, is inherently limited to a specific MLCC, and in contrast to Steinmetz loss modeling for ferromagnetic inductor cores, the losses of other devices employing the same dielectric material cannot be predicted. Recent literature therefore proposed a microscopic and/or material specific MLCC Steinmetz Model entitled iGSE-C<sub>D</sub> which allows to calculate the losses of any MLCC of the same dielectric material based upon just a single set of Steinmetz parameters. However, due to the lack of information on the internal device geometry, the iGSE-C<sub>D</sub> could be verified only indirectly so far by means of a loss normalization based on the device capacitance and rated voltage. In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of a microscopic iGSE-C<sub>D</sub> MLCC loss model enabled by manufacturer data on the internal capacitor structure. The iGSE-C<sub>D</sub> is verified for two different MLCC series employing a conventional X7R dielectric and a novel Hiteca (with reduced non-linearity) Class II dielectric material with loss estimation error below <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$22\%$</tex-math></inline-formula>. This error results due to component tolerances and is acceptable, especially when compared to the loss calculation based on the datasheet information which can be off by up to a factor of ten. The analysis of the Hiteca dielectric reveals a frequency behavior different to the X7R material, and is discussed in the Appendix of this paper.
ISSN:2644-1314