Ray, either way it is effectively microphonic. Under vibration, and depending on the board location and mounting scheme the device will generate a piezo-voltage. Stress relief can largely prevent this and make a ceramic useful under all but very demanding conditions of combined high vibration and very high spectral purity. Steve. At 10:21 AM 9/7/2004 -0700, Ray Anderson wrote: >David Greig wrote: > > >Hi Girish > > > >I would hazard a guess that the filter cap is ceramic, and another guess > >that it is surface mounted in a mechanically unsupported area of the board. > > > >Most ceramics exhibit a piezoelectric effect. The value will also alter on > >board deflection, in the order of 0.1% to 0.5% of value in the extreme > >(before popping off!). > > > >Film caps do not have a piezoelectric effect. > > > > > >Best Regards > > > >David Greig > > > > >.I concur with David on this. In previous work on satcom synthesizers, >the inclusion of ceramic capacitors in the loop filter was the kiss of >death with regards to vibration. > >The original poster theorized that the capacitance might be changing >with vibration. I believe that the piezoelectric voltage generated by >the ceramic dielectric material is injecting an undesired noise signal >into the loop which is causing the difficulties. > >Note that most ceramic capacitors use (or at least used to) some varient >of barium titanate as the dielectric material. This is the same material >that is used to fab sonar transducers because it exhibits piezoelectric >properties. > >-Ray > >------------------------------------------------------------------ >To unsubscribe from si-list: >si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field > >or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: >//www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list > >For help: >si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field > >List FAQ wiki page is located at: > http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ > >List technical documents are available at: > http://www.si-list.org > >List archives are viewable at: > //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list >or at our remote archives: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages >Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: > http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu > ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List FAQ wiki page is located at: http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ List technical documents are available at: http://www.si-list.org List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu