On Fri, 24 Apr 2015 07:55:58 -0400, JW wrote:

On Thu, 23 Apr 2015 14:13:03 -0400 Michael Black wrote in
Message id: ple.org:

Snip
But ceramic capacitors don't go bad.

Good post, but I disagree with that. I've seem 'em short out. Just last
week I removed one from a -12VDC rail on an HP 4195A network/spectrum
analyzer. The cap had caught fire.

Yep. I have a small pile of Apple Mac Mini computahs that won't power
on. The problem is usually one of the MLCC (mult-layer ceramic
capacitor) caps on the bottom of the PCB.
http://blog.helpmymac.ru/?p=3585
They're available in values up to about 1 uF and are commonly used in
place of electrolytics where space is a premium. For automotive
applications, AVX has "Flexiterm" (soft termination) packages that
allow the end terminations to flex a little instead of cracking and
shorting the ceramic:
http://www.avx.com/docs/Catalogs/flexiterm.pdf
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558