Tantalum VS Electrolytic

[MWP]

Hi guys...

My current DAC project requires a few 10uF on the DACs for what i assume to be virtual ground decoupling.

Whats going to be better for this purpose, tantanlums or electro's?

And generally speaking, which is better suited to Audio applications (physical and capacitance size differences disregarded)?

Thanks...

[fmak]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by MWP
[B]Hi guys...

My current DAC project requires a few 10uF on the DACs for what i assume to be virtual ground decoupling.

Whats going to be better for this purpose, tantanlums or electro's?

------------------------
Try OSCONs.

[tiroth]

I have had success using SMD aluminum organic polymer caps. I think the key is to minimize impedance, preferably over a broad frequency range.

[till]

Horowitz Hill says about Tantalums:Accuracy poor, temperature stability poor.

Also Tantalum isn´t political (or ethical) correct these days. If you need low quality and cheap use a normal eletrolytic, if you need quality use film. A very good and cheap compromise would be using the electrolytic and a small film like 1uF MKS2 in parallel.

[tiroth]

It all depends on the application.

[jewilson]

Yes, tantalums if you are using the correct part they or great for removing power supply switching noise, great in timing circuits and higher temps. Many of them have a much better ESR the electrolytic.

[Jay]

So far I have the same conclusion as with Till. I had been suspecting that people use tantalums for their size and durability. It is IMO mainly the price that makes them unsuitable for many applications. For removing power supply switching noise, how about parallelling ceramics of the same price? Hehe just my imagination.

[jewilson]

While it's good to decouple high frequency noise with ceramics, low frequency switching noise is best done with tantalums because of there low ESR. If you analyze the electrolytic caps, they all have poorer HF performance as they increase in size.

Ok not all tantalums are created equal, that true for film, ceramic and electrolytic caps also. Also, as you pointed out not all designs can afford the real estate for electrolytic caps.