01-13-2014, 10:33 PM
Well, more or less, yes. At the tme of invention, same as today, the electrolytic cap provides the highest per unit of volume capacitive density.
As your load increases, using smaller values no longer provides adequate filtering, and using lots and lots of film or tubular paper caps is size- and cost- prohibitive.
However where one needs a low capacitance, often times a film cap will do.
Also electrolytics have poor frequency response so if one needs low ESR/ESL and good frequency characteristics this is where other types like ceramics come in.
As your load increases, using smaller values no longer provides adequate filtering, and using lots and lots of film or tubular paper caps is size- and cost- prohibitive.
However where one needs a low capacitance, often times a film cap will do.
Also electrolytics have poor frequency response so if one needs low ESR/ESL and good frequency characteristics this is where other types like ceramics come in.