The Gen-One capacitors are based on a novel approach in converting a carbon nanofiber forest into a high capacitance density capacitor. This approach utilizes the valuable footprint area of the capacitor more efficiently while keeping the parasitic inductance and resistance at a minimum. This, combined with the expected increase in the length of the carbon nanofibers will be a leap forward compared to the Gen-Zero CNF-MIM capacitors.

The Gen-Zero capacitors was developed together with Yageo, one of the biggest capacitors manufacturers in the world. The capacitor technology development collaboration between Smoltek Semi and Yageo Group will continue, although Yageo has paused the discussions on an exclusive license and service agreement, and they will assist in the testing and evaluation of our upcoming Gen-One capacitors that are under development.

Smoltek Semi is still working very closely with Yageo to develop the CNF-MIM technology. And the next generation, Gen-One is expected to enable capacitance values on par with the top capacitors on the market.

Farzan Ghavanini, CTO

High capacitance in a small area – and the importance of volumetric capacitance density
Smoltek’s carbon nanofiber-based capacitor technology, CNF-MIM, creates high capacitance values by growing extremely thin and tall carbon nanofibers on top of a silicon substrate. With this technology, a very high capacitance is created in a very small area. This is fundamental and demanded from the capacitor manufacturers and their customers worldwide.

With the new technology generation, Smoltek can create a volumetric capacitance density of up to 120 nanofarads per square millimeter, and per micrometer of carbon nanofiber. This is comparable to the top capacitors on the market. However, the capacitance values in the Gen-Zero capacitors were today lower than the competitors. This is because we have not yet optimized the length of the carbon nanofibers, which in Gen-Zero were only a few micrometers long. In the next generation, Gen-One, the ambition is to grow carbon nanofibers that are up to 10 micrometers long, which is expected to enable capacitance values on par with the competition.

Farzan Ghavanini