Investigation of performance degradation in metallized film capacitors

Zn–Al metallized film capacitors in two different production stages were investigated to explain the decrease of capacitors performance with time. Unsealed and sealed capacitors with different aluminium content in metallization layer were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to image the surface of the metallization layers, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) was used to determine the chemical composition and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) was used to determine the chemical composition of the top of the metallization layers as well as to estimate the degree of oxidation. It was found that air humidity degraded the metallization layer of unsealed capacitors, especially at lower Al contents. Sealed capacitors were exposed to high electric fields, typical for standard usage. It was found – rather unexpectedly – that the performance was decreased by increasing Al content. A crystallographic explanation was proposed.