Causes of Capacitor Short Circuits

A capacitor short circuit occurs when there is low impedance or direct conduction between the two leads of the capacitor. This phenomenon causes the capacitor to fail to function properly and may even lead to circuit faults. Next, we will introduce the common factors that cause short circuits

What causes a capacitor to short circuit?

Electrostatic discharge (ESD, Electrostatic Discharge) and dielectric breakdown can cause chip capacitors to short circuit. The reason is that the instantaneous high current generated by the electrostatic discharge process and excessively high voltage damages the internal structure of the capacitor. The internal laminated layers may melt due to high temperature and the internal electrodes may overlap, causing an originally insulated capacitor to form a conductive path, resulting in a short circuit.

Mechanical cracks may cause the internal electrode layers of the capacitor to break or shift. If the broken part of an electrode layer comes into contact with another electrode layer, forming a direct conduction path, it will lead to a short circuit.

In the above image, the capacitor has been broken by external stress, and the black electrode areas already show a risk of overlap, which will eventually cause the capacitor to short circuit.