Smoltek says it has created the world's thinnest capacitor
Swedish technology company Smoltek has developed what it claims is the world’s thinnest capacitor, demonstrating a prototype of a CNF-MIM capacitor with a total height of just under 40 µm.
The need for thinner high-performance capacitors for advanced semiconductor integration will continue to grow with new generations of processors, not least for 5G applications. Since 2016, when the industry first began to show a clear interest in Smoltek’s capacitor technology, the company has had the aim of making its microscopically small capacitors even smaller, while maintaining performance within important parameters, such as high capacitance density, low leakage current, low equivalent series resistance and low inductance.
The new capacitor prototype is only a few micrometres high and together with the necessary substrate (component carrier) barely reaches 40 µm in total height. It also has a capacitance density of 500 nF/mm2, an equivalent series resistance below 10 mΩ and an internal inductance below 15 pH.
“Such a thin capacitor proof of concept that at the same time shows excellent performance is a result of Smoltek’s own R&D efforts,” said Vincent Desmaris, Chief Technology Officer at Smoltek. “This also demonstrates the scalability of our CNF-MIM technology and the applicability of the technology for use in cutting-edge applications. And not least, the unique advantage that CNF-MIM provides compared to competing technology by meeting the need for increasingly thinner capacitors with high performance even in the longer term.”
“We have always known that our capacitor technology enables extremely thin capacitor components, but seeing is believing,” added Ola Tiverman, President of Smoltek Semi. “Being able to show this high-performance prototype helps a lot in our work in selling the technology.”
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