As PEN nears end-of-life, capacitor designs must change

Capacitor-grade polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) film is approaching end-of-life, forcing aerospace, defense, grid and EV power designers to rethink parts. Suppliers point to two replacement classes: high-dielectric-constant (HDC) materials with dielectric constants of 3.7–4.7 and breakdown strength of 790–820 V/µm for pulse duty, and low-dissipation-factor (LDF) dielectrics for continuous cycling.

• PEN served aerospace, defense, grid and traction power electronics
• HDC can store up to 4× the energy in half the footprint
• LDF cuts self-heating and extends capacitor lifetime
• No one-to-one replacement: two distinct dielectric classes are needed