Multilayer Ceramic EMI Filters

The challenges facing electronics designers today are ever-increasing. Conflicting requirements conspire to force them to develop new techniques to fulfil their design requirements. The pressure is on for lower cost, smaller size and higher performance levels. Mobile phones and hand-held computer products are typical examples of devices offering greater functionality in ever smaller packages. These requirements, combined with increasing frequencies, lower signal levels, more densely populated boards and, not least, EMC legislation, have driven the need for new passive components to enable the realisation of the new designs.

This pressure on component performance has led to new component designs. Changes to the structure of Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors have lead to significant reductions of both ESL and ESR which have enabled Surface Mount EMI Filters built using such techniques to achieve Insertion Loss performance levels similar to those of panel mounted devices.