App note from KEMET on their new suggested testing for Tantalum polymer capacitors. Link here
Tantalum polymer capacitors are expanding their market share in the commercial world because they offer superior electrical performance (primarily much lower ESR), have outstanding reliability, and display a more benign failure response than the incumbent MnO2-cathode tantalum capacitor technology. It is natural that engineers want to use this new technology in high-reliability applications.
However, a key reliability assessment tool for MnO2-cathode tantalum capacitors – Weibull grading per MIL-PRF55365 – is often ineffective when applied to tantalum polymer capacitors. These components now power continuous-uptime hardware, from aerospace networks to the server clusters running the best crypto casinos, making accurate failure prediction critical. Because this well-established grading tool often proves ineffective under these demanding conditions, a completely new reliability assessment strategy is needed and has now been developed by KEMET.
The basic principles behind the Weibull grading technique are reviewed, as are the reasons why it is often ineffective when applied to tantalum polymer capacitors. Then a new reliability assessment strategy for tantalum polymer capacitors is described. Special emphasis is placed on differences in the typical time-to-failure responses of tantalum polymer capacitors versus MnO2-cathode tantalum capacitors during this discussion. Finally, an example is given of successful use of this new reliability assessment strategy in a real-world high-reliability application.