Author Topic: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements  (Read 1519 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline CigarsnobTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 77
  • Country: us
Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« on: March 03, 2021, 07:47:40 pm »
Hey Everyone! Looking for a recommendation on some DC blocking capacitor to be used in a low measurement test box. I'll be used to measure low noise laser drivers, such as Wavelength Electronics WLD3343 or the Koheron CTL200. I will be using an AD797 low noise amp to boost the noise and a DC blocking cap from the laser driver load to the input of the amp.

I'm looking for an ultra low leakage cap to not only function as DC block, but to also act as my highpass filter with a cutoff frequency of 1-10Hz. I found a good app note from Jim Williams that talks about such a cap, but damn is it pricy.
https://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/an124f.pdf

In my first attempt, I used the following cap, but only 2 in parallel:  https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/rubycon/16MU226MD35750/4969522?s=N4IgTCBcDaIIwDYC2BXMZkBMDMBWA7LgAwgC6AvkA

This time around, I'm making a PCB with everything on it and into a metal box to hopefully get more consistent measurements as my original test set up consisted of eval  boards, batteries, cables, etc etc. 

At the moment, I may be sticking with the cap given above and just create a very large parallel combination  to get up into the mF. Resulting in hundreds of dollars just for the caps alone.

Any recommendations/alternatives is much appreciated.
 

Offline macaba

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 215
  • Country: gb
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #1 on: March 03, 2021, 10:51:21 pm »
I bought 10 decent 1500uF electrolytics and selected the one with the lowest leakage after a certain duration. I’ve also heard good things about the Wima DCP4 400uF.
 

Offline CigarsnobTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 77
  • Country: us
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2021, 12:18:38 am »
Thank you! This does have a higher insulation resistance than the 22uF one and comes in larger values to help with that filter. I've give it a shot.

 

Offline vindoline

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 328
  • Country: us
 

Offline David Hess

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 17167
  • Country: us
  • DavidH
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2021, 11:06:49 pm »
For a high input bias current low voltage operational amplifier, unless the price of the wet tantalum capacitor Jim Williams mentioned is acceptable, then low leakage aluminum electrolytics are about the only option.

However low voltage noise JFET and MOSFET input amplifiers are almost as good and their low input bias current considerably relaxes the size of the input coupling capacitor making film capacitors viable.
 

Offline Conrad Hoffman

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2011
  • Country: us
    • The Messy Basement
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2021, 12:02:31 am »
Selected low leakage series aluminums should be very good, or buy some military surplus thing with wet slug caps in it.
 

Online bdunham7

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 8009
  • Country: us
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2021, 12:26:50 am »
13 of these would be my choice, but obviously not cheap or small. 

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-DMPC-100-100uF-250V-Polypropylene-Capacitor-027-447
A 3.5 digit 4.5 digit 5 digit 5.5 digit 6.5 digit 7.5 digit DMM is good enough for most people.
 

Offline mawyatt

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3895
  • Country: us
Re: Recommended DC Blocking Cap for Ultra Low Noise Measurements
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2021, 02:16:15 pm »
Second the vote for the wet-slug tantalums. Recall they support small reverse voltages without bad effects.

Best,
Curiosity killed the cat, also depleted my wallet!
~Wyatt Labs by Mike~
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf