Capacitors: why use a number in parallel instead of one larger one

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
In analog electronics, capacitors are one of the core building blocks of circuits. They play multiple roles from power storage to filtering. The former is the key use in amplifiers and power supplies for all manner of electronics.



Capacitors add in value when used in parallel. The latter is used routinely in higher end gear. Question is why? Some may already know the answer but this is a very nice video from my electronics blogger, Dave Jones with a deeper dive. Usually his audience is electronics engineers and hobbyists and hence may be hard to follow for people outside of that domain. Fortunately this video is very approachable and everyone should be able to follow most if not all of it on why use multiple capacitors instead of one.

 

DonH50

Member Sponsor & WBF Technical Expert
Jun 22, 2010
3,946
305
1,670
Monument, CO
I'll have to view the video later (blocked at work). Wideband decoupling (or coupling) typically requires capacitors of different values because a given value will only work up to a certain frequency range. Stepping in decades (e.g. 1000, 100, 10, 1, 0.1 uF) typically provides lower impedance (better filtering or coupling) over a wider frequency range.
 

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