More Information About Film Capacitors

What is a Film Capacitor?

Film capacitors, also known as film dielectric capacitors, plastic film capacitors, polymer film capacitors, film caps or power film capacitors, are electrical capacitors that contain an insulating plastic film which is the dielectric, and is sometimes combined with paper as the carrier of electrodes. The electrodes contained in film capacitors can be metallized aluminum or zinc and directly applied to the surface of the plastic film or a separate metallic foil that is overlying the film. Two of these conductive layers are wound into a cylinder shaped winding that is generally flattened in order to reduce mounting space requirements on a PCB, or layered as several single layers that are stacked together in order to form a capacitor body.

Types of Film Capacitors

There are many different kinds of film capacitors. At Future Electronics we stock many of the most common types categorized by rated voltage, style, capacitance, lead spacing, packaging type and tolerance. The parametric filters on our website can help refine your search results depending on the required specifications.

The most common values for capacitance are 10 nF, 100 nF, 220 nF, 470 nf and 1 µF. We also carry film capacitors with capacitance up to 1000 µF. The rated voltage can be between 10 V and 3 kV, with the most common capacitors having a rated voltage of 100 V, 250 V or 400 V.

Film Capacitors from Future Electronics

Future Electronics has a full film capacitor selection from several manufacturers that can be used as a polyester film capacitor, metal film capacitor, polypropylene film capacitor or for any application that requires electronic film capacitors. Simply choose from the film capacitor technical attributes below and your search results will quickly be narrowed in order to match your specific film capacitor application needs.

If you have a preferred brand, we deal with several manufacturers such as Illinois Capacitor, WIMA, Rubycon, Vishay or EPCOS, among other manufacturers. You can easily refine your film capacitor product search results by clicking your preferred film capacitor brand below from our list of manufacturers.

Applications for Film Capacitors:

Film capacitors are used in several DC and AC microelectronic and electronic applications including:

Timing

Sample-and-hold A/D converters

Peak-voltage detectors

TV flyback tuning

Motor run

Snubbing

Choosing the Right Film Capacitor:

When you are looking for the right film capacitors, with the FutureElectronics.com parametric search, you can filter the results by various attributes: by Style (Metallized Polyester, Metallized Polypropylene, Polypropylene,…), Capacitance (10 nF, 100 nF, 220 nF, 470 nF, 1 µF, …) and Rated Voltage (from 10 V to 3 kV) to name a few. You will be able to find the right metal film capacitor, polyester film capacitor, polypropylene film capacitor or for any circuits that may require electronic film capacitors.

Film Capacitors in Production Ready Packaging or R&D Quantities

If the quantity of film capacitors that you require is less than a full reel, we offer customers many of our film capacitor products in tube, tray or individual quantities that will help you avoid unneeded surplus.

In addition, Future Electronics offers clients a unique bonded inventory program that is designed to eliminate potential problems that could arise from an unpredictable supply of products containing raw metals and products with long or erratic lead times. Talk with your nearest Future Electronics branch and find out more on how you and your company can avoid possible shortages.