Electrolytic Capacitors from Inception to the Present
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The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors ♦ PDF Cover Page ♦ ♦ Verso Filler Page ♦ F E A T U R E A R T I C L E Electrolytic Capacitors, 1890 to 1925: Early History and Basic Principle Key words: capacitor, electrolytic, aluminum Introduction Jens Both This first of three articles on electrolytic-capacitor technolo- gy places the technology in a broad historical context and traces Grosshansdorf, Germany the technology from the 1880s to about 1925, when a patent was submitted for the modern form of electrolytic capacitor. The second article will trace the development of modern “e-caps.” The 120-year history of electrolytic capacitors is the story of a simple idea, the use of an anodically formed oxide on alu- The story that leads electrolytic minum as a capacitor dielectric, which grew into a large range of products which address electrical and electronic applications. capacitors starts around 1880, with Although we usually associate “electrolytic capacitor” with widespread commercial use by the small cylinders on our computer motherboard or somewhat 1910 and modern forms introduced larger cylinders in power supplies, electrolytic capacitors have grown to a large family that includes both liquid and solid elec- around 1930. trolyte technologies of varying anode metal oxide dielectric which cover the voltage range from about 2 to 630 V ratings. The history of electrolytic capacitors starts in the early days of electric power (1890s), around the time that the three-phase Edison’s incandescent carbon-filament light bulb were based on “universal system” was first being established [1]. low-voltage direct current. The first electric motors were DC, The 19th century produced many scientific discoveries and for example the motor which powered the first electric mine technological developments that we now take for granted. The locomotive (1879) and the first electric tram in Berlin (1881), development, evolution, and extensive application of the steam as practical AC motors were not yet invented [1]. The distance engine at the beginning of the 19th century made power gen- of Edison’s DC distribution systems was limited to about 1 km eration mobile, freed from natural local sources (usually water), by their low voltage (110 V) and high current. The San Fran- and set people free from heavy physical work. The steam loco- cisco cable-car system (1873) is a monument to the limited ex- motive (1825/29, “Rocket,” 1835, “Eagle”) and motor vehicles tent of low-voltage DC distribution [3]. It used a centralized, (1886, Benz) relativized distances through physical transport, DC motor to drive a cable which extended much further than as did telegraphy (1837, Morse) and the telephone (1876, Bell) the 1-km limitation of DC distribution. The cable was driven through rapid exchange of information. The transformer (1881, at constant speed, and the system reduced the required motor Gibbs), alternating current (1887, Tesla), and the dynamoelec- power because cars clamped to the cable going downhill helped tric principle (1866, Siemens) created the technology for wide- pull other cars uphill. Longer-distance electrical transmission spread distribution of electrical energy [1]. Wireless telegraphy and distribution, along with the reduced cost associated with the (1894 Hertz, 1896, Marconi) laid the foundations for today’s ra- resulting improved load factor, required large-area high-voltage dio and television technology, and the first gliding flight (1891, transmission with subsidiary lower-voltage distribution, which Lilienthal) opened the sky and relativized national boundaries. could only be realized with the introduction of the “universal The Siemens dynamo (1866) generated an alternating current, polyphase system,” which was established in the 1890s [1, pp. which, initially, was converted to direct current via a commuta- 129–135], after invention of practical transformers in the early tor, as the arc lamps in lighthouses (France) and public light- 1880s and a practical polyphase motor in the late 1880s [1, pp. ing (London, 1878, Figure 1) as well as wired telegraphy and 109–120]. 22 0883-7554/15/©2015/IEEE IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine Figure 2. Example of high-purity etched Al used to provide a large surface area for anodic oxidation [8]. Figure courtesy of Jianghai Europe Electronic Components, used with permission. niobium, titanium, and iron form an oxide on their surface to achieve “valve-like” behavior. Although aluminum, at about 8% concentration in the Earth’s crust, is the most abundant metallic element, it was discovered relatively late (1808) by Sir Humphrey Davy because it occurs naturally only as an oxide and is difficult to reduce therefrom. In an impure form, the metal was first produced in 1825 by Dan- ish physicist and chemist Hans Christian Ørsted. Even in 1855, when C. Wheatstone first described its standard electrochemical electrode potential [6], aluminum was a metal used in jewelry as a result of its high price, which was greater than gold. As a result, Ducretet’s 1875 discovery of its valve action was not Figure 1. An 1878 wood block print showing a London crowd followed by any application. In 1886 Charles Martin Hall in the admiring newly installed arc lamp illumination [2]. United States and Paul Héroult in France independently devel- oped an electrolytic process, the “Hall–Héroult process,” which reduced the cost of Al production in larger quantities [7]. The Early Electrolytic Devices The underlying principles of electrolytic capacitors enter this picture through the need for a practical power rectifier. During the transition from local-area DC distribution to the “universal polyphase AC system,” consumers still needed DC, and the con- version of higher AC voltages into lower DC voltage based on motor generators was cumbersome and expensive. The need for a rectifier was obvious, as was the need to recharge batteries for electric vehicles, which were quite popular at the time. The story of electrolytic devices which led to the electrolytic capacitor be- gins with the need for practical rectifiers. While searching for new materials and methods for improved rechargeable batteries, the French researcher and industrialist Eugène Ducretet, later cofounder of the French Thomson Group, discovered (1875) that an aluminum electrode, when used as an- ode in an electrolytic cell, formed a surface oxide layer which caused rapidly increasing resistance which, in short time, sup- pressed nearly all current flow [4]. The resistance also decreased rapidly when the current direction was reversed. Ducretet coined the term “valve metals” for metals with such behavior. He in- tended to use this behavior to construct a liquid circuit interrupt- er [5]. In addition to aluminum, other metals such as tantalum, Figure 3. Principle of anodic oxidation. January/February — Vol. 31, No. 1 23 Figure 5. Transmission electron micrograph of aluminum ox- ide cross section. 1. Residual aluminum trihydrate, 2. residual Figure 4. Typical oxide thickness and specific capacitance of porous aluminum oxide, 3. mostly crystalline oxide, 4. highly the etched Al anode foil as a function of forming voltage. crystalline oxide, 5. amorphous oxide, 6. base Al anode metal. [10]. Figure used with permission. Siemens dynamos (DC generators), invented 20 years earlier, produced enough power to provide the high current required for i.e., oxide thickness, to optimize capacitance. The chemical re- electrolytic reduction of aluminum, which effected a dramatic action of oxygen with a metal to form a metal oxide progresses reduction in price. more quickly with increasing affinity of the metal for oxygen, Practical electrolytic capacitors are based on a combination and aluminum has a very high affinity so that all aluminum of an etched anode surface (Figure 2) which provides very large surfaces in air have an oxide coating.