The tantalum capacitor is a variant of the electrolytic capacitor. It has high capacitance and small physical size. It is available in values from 0.1 micro Farad to 1000uF. The dielectric material in these tantalum capacitors are tantalum oxide.

Production of a modern dry electrolyte tantalum capacitor:
The anode is made from fused tantalum powder. This is then given a layer of oxidized tantalum. Then the capacitor is dipped in disolved manganese nitrate, that flows in to all the small holes and cavities in the tantalum oxide. By heating the manganese nitrate is turned in to manganese oxide(this will act as the electrolyte in the finished capacitor). The cathode is made from tin with a thin layer of silver. To get optimum connection between the manganese oxide and the silver a thin layer of carbon is used. In old fasion tantalum capacitors a liquid electrolyte and a silver capsule was used.

The tantalum capacitor used in all kinds of mobile devices due to their compact size. But as a result of the popularity of these kinds of devices, spesialy the mobile phones, the demand for tantalum is now very high. Therefore the price of this element has risen by many times the last years.

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