highercapacitance

Higher capacitance refers to a greater ability of a passive electrical component to store electric charge per unit voltage. Capacitance is measured in farads, with common practical values ranging from microfarads to farads in ordinary electronics, and even higher in specialized energy storage devices. Higher capacitance improves a circuit's energy storage per volt and its ability to smooth voltage fluctuations in power supplies, decouple signals, and supply short bursts of current.

The capacitance C of a parallel-plate model is C = εA/d, where ε is the absolute permittivity of the dielectric and A is the plate area, while d is the separation between plates. Increasing C can be achieved by enlarging A, using a dielectric with a higher relative permittivity εr, or reducing d. In real devices, engineers also use multi-layer architectures, thin dielectric layers, and high-k materials; electrolytic, tantalum, film, and ceramic capacitor technologies each approach high capacitance in different ways. Advanced devices such as supercapacitors achieve very high capacitance values by using porous electrodes and electrochemical energy storage.

Trade-offs accompany higher capacitance. Larger plates or multiple stacked layers increase physical size and cost; higher capacitance devices may have higher leakage currents, lower voltage ratings, and greater equivalent series resistance (ESR) or inductance (ESL), affecting performance at high frequencies. Capacitance also varies with temperature and age.

In practice, higher capacitance is often realized by placing capacitors in parallel to add their values, while series connection increases voltage rating at the expense of total capacitance.