Automated characterization of ceramic multilayer capacitors

This paper describes an automated test configuration that is used for rapid characterization of the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of ceramic multilayer capacitors. The primary components in this system are a coaxial resonant line, an HP 8753D vector network analyzer, and a personal computer. Sample measurements are provided for several 1206 style capacitors, and the trends in ESR versus the internal capacitor architecture are presented.