Tantalum capacitors are used in smaller electronic devices, including portable telephones, pagers, personal computers (PCs), and automotive electronics. They differ in terms of form factor, technology, and capacitance type. Leaded tantalum capacitors have leads for connections to circuits. Surface mount or chip tantalum capacitors do not. For both types of products, technology choices include single layer, multilayer, and wound. Single layer tantalum capacitors use a monolithic dielectric. Multilayer products are small in size and made of many layers. They provide good frequency characteristics as well as excellent temperature stability. Wound tantalum capacitors are built by winding foils, sometimes by hand. In terms of capacitance type, there are two choices: fixed and variable. Fixed tantalum capacitors have a nonadjustable capacitance value. Variable tantalum capacitors can be set with a potentiometer or other adjustment mechanism.
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