Expendable High Energy Density Capacitors

Improved energy density capacitors are needed for strategic and tactical missiles and pulsed power terrestrial installations. Current performance is limited by processing technology and not inherent material properties. Spire Corporation proposes development of a multilayer, thin film capacitor utilizing ion beam assisted deposition and chemical vapor deposition to create perfectly dense ceramic films with high permittivity and high dielectric breakdown strength. The Phase I program would demonstrate a 2 kV single layer capacitor with an energy density exceeding that of conventional tape casting materials. Successful Phase II research and development would produce a prototype twenty microfarad capacitor with a volume less than one cubic inch.