High Energy Density Capacitors

A capacitor storing a thousand times more energy than is possible today is the carrot offered by this Spire Corporation proposal. To get there, Spire will exploit its ability to grow exotic thin-film dielectric layers by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Everything has to go just right, but if it does, large-area one-micron thick films with kilovolt holdoff will result; that's tens of millions of volts per centimeter! Spire claims MOCVD is eminently practical because, at 2 microns per minute, it will grow metallized, multilayer structures economically whereas other thin-film processes won't. Big weight savings on spaceborne platforms are foreseen. Since the energy stored in Spire-built ultra-capacitors will approach that of electrochemical systems, Spire's capacitors may even supplant batteries as high-power, short-term energy sources in aerospace and all-electric vehicles.