8.1.1 Recommended Capacitor Types

The device is designed to be stable using low equivalent series resistance (ESR) ceramic capacitors at the input, output, and BIAS pins. Multilayer ceramic capacitors are the industry standard for these types of applications, but must be used with good judgment. Ceramic capacitors that use X7R-, X5R-, and COG-rated dielectric materials provide relatively good capacitive stability across temperature. Avoid Y5V-rated capacitors because of large variations in capacitance.

Regardless of the ceramic capacitor type selected, ceramic capacitance varies with operating voltage and temperature. As a rule of thumb, assume that effective capacitance decreases by as much as 50%. The input, output, and bias capacitors recommended in the Recommended Operating Conditions table account for an effective capacitance of approximately 50% of the nominal value.