Characterization of Ferroelectric Ceramic Capacitors

The fundamental role of the Q=f(v) function in the characterization of ferroelectric ceramic capacitors is delineated and analyzed. Guidelines for reconstructing the Q=f(v) data from manufacturers' data are developed and shown to yield additional information on the capacitors. The analytical derivations were backed by simulation and experimental results. Application of the voltage dependent ferroelectric capacitors as a control element for a fixed frequency series resonant converter was tested by simulation. The results suggest that this proposed approach is viable and that the expected performance is comparable to that of a variable frequency series resonant converter.