Why do some capacitors have 4 terminals?

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General Costa Power 4 months 2024-08-28T10:16:02+00:00 2024-08-28T10:16:02+00:00 0 Answer 0

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Costa Power · Answer 1 · 2024-08-28T10:18:31+00:00

Capacitors with four terminals are typically used in specialized applications, and their design serves specific purposes, such as:

Four-Terminal Capacitors (Kelvin Capacitors): These are designed to reduce the effects of parasitic inductance and resistance, which can be significant in high-frequency applications.
Decoupling Capacitors with Low Inductance: In high-frequency circuits, the inductance of the leads can degrade the performance of decoupling capacitors.
Capacitors in Differential Mode Filtering: In some applications, four-terminal capacitors are used in differential mode filtering, where the capacitor is placed across two signal lines rather than between a signal line and ground.