Soft Termination Capacitors by Murata.Murata has developed a capacitor end termination technology that significantly reduces the risk of damage caused by bending stress.The GCJ and GRJ series of multi-layered ceramic capacitors use the company's new 'soft' termination technology, and are based on Murata's leading GCM and GRM series of multi-layered ceramic capacitors for automotive (GCJ) and consumer device (GRJ) applications. When mounted on a PCB that is bent or flexed, either during the manufacturing process or in the field, multi-layered ceramic capacitors can develop cracks, affecting the capacitor's performance. The new 'soft' termination type reduces the risk of stress damage as a layer of conductive polymer is applied within the capacitor's electrodes. It is the elasticity of the polymer that reduces the bending stress in the capacitor. In tests conducted by Murata, 'soft' termination multi-layered ceramic capacitors were soldered with 200mcm thick solder to a typical 1.6mm thick PCB. The board was then flexed. The soft termination versions typically did not suffer any stress damage after the board had flexed 5mm. The terminations of standard Murata multi-layered ceramic capacitors have three layers: the innermost copper, then nickel, then tin on the outside. In the GCJ and GRJ series, after the copper layer is added, conductive polymer is applied to the outer electrode. Then the nickel and tin layers are added as normal. The process does not affect the equivalent series resistance (ESR) or current rating, so the GRJ and GCJ series capacitors have the equivalent properties as their GRM and GCM counterparts. GRJ series are available with 250V, 630V and 1KV rated voltage.
