Ultra-thin moisture barrier coatings for passive components

Polymer Multi-Layer (PML) capacitors have demonstrated excellent performance for numerous power electronics applications, particularly where high temperature stability is required. These capacitors are sensitive to high humidity, and if they are not protected from moisture exposure their performance degrades rapidly due to electrochemical corrosion. Conventional protective coatings, such as epoxies and polyurethanes, are extremely thick--usually over 1 mm. Previous work has shown that a thick coating leads to a large equivalent series inductance (ESL) of the capacitor, and negatively affects the capacitor performance. An ultra-thin moisture barrier coating is desirable to improve both electrical performance and capacitance density. This thesis focuses on developing coatings which are thinner than 200 tm and which adequately protect PML capacitors from humidity. Novel moisture barrier designs have been fabricated and tested.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Jensen, Robert A. (Robert Allen), 1980-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David J. Perreault and Charles R. Sullivan.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28560

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/28560