The rise in automotive electrification, renewable energy systems, and high-density industrial power supplies is driving demand for power electronics that deliver more performance in less space, all without compromising safety or long-term reliability. In particular, engineers need compact safety-certified components that support high-voltage operation and stringent insulation requirements.

Many applications today increasingly demand miniaturized surface-mount components that can perform reliably at ever-increasing working and testing voltages. As a result, Knowles recently released a new range of X1/Y2 safety-certified surface-mount multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs). 

From industrial to automotive to aerospace applications, power electronics are demanding higher capacitance in smaller packages. Therefore, to meet both capacitance demands and size requirements, electronic designers simply cannot continue to add more capacitors. While capacitor stacking is an option, many stacked assemblies are still quite large and stacking often introduces new failure modes, such as piezo electric cracking (Figure 1). 

To meet consumer demand for longer driving ranges and faster charging, electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are redesigning vehicles to move from 400V to 800V battery systems. As a result of using higher operating voltages, EV designers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) need components, such as multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs), that can withstand voltages well beyond those expected under normal operating conditions. For example, a drivetrain running off an 800V battery system may be subjected to a withstand test of up to 4kV DC for 60 seconds, which is a standard safety test in high voltage systems.