Capacitance monitoring while flex testing

As most other modes of failure for surface mount ceramic capacitors have been dramatically reduced over the years, cracking due to stresses from board bending have gained prominence. Cracking in ceramic capacitors can lead to instant failures or insidious, future field failures. The crack allows current leakage through the dielectric insulator with a voltage applied. This voltage can be much less than the rated voltage of the capacitor and still result in excessive leakage. Early attempts to identify susceptibility to this type of failure and the refinement of these techniques to establish a reliable and repeatable test with variables type of ratings is detailed within.<
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