> > I really wonder why people used/still use tantalums. They seem to be
> > nothing but grief.
>=20
> Seems like you could do a rocket motor ignitor with them pretty nicely.  =
:) The
> reverse voltage thing is obvious, but they also fail spectacularly with h=
igh inrush
> currents.

I have thought of filling a 3 litre plastic drink bottle with compressed ai=
r, up to about its maximum pressure capability, and taping a tantalum cap t=
o the outside, setting it up somewhere, and applying reverse voltage to the=
 cap, when the neighbours are having a particularly noisy party ...

> I don't design them into anything anymore.

I think the design above might be the last ....

How about the Niobium version that AVX and others are manufacturing as equi=
valents? After all ceramic caps are as bad as tantalums as catching fire. I=
 have my own experience of that when doing a burn in on arrival of a new co=
mputer ...


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