A Study of Dielectric Absorption in Capacitors by Thermally Stimulated Discharge (TSD) Tests

The dielectric absorption (DA) of capacitors with various dielectrics has been studied by the use of Thermally Stimulated Discharge (TSD). It has been shown that this test gives a much more accurate measurement of DA and in addition gives information about the mechanism of absorption. The charge determined by TSD has been correlated with noise which reduces the reliability of the capacitors in high gain circuits.