Silver mica capacitors are high precision, stability and reliability capacitors. They are available in small values, and are mostly used at high frequencies.
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There are 2 distinct types of mica capacitor.
Now obsolete, these were in use in the early 20th century. They consisted of sheets of mica and copper foil sandwiched together and clamped. These had even worse tolerance and stability than other clamped capacitors since the mica surface is not perfectly flat & smooth. References to mica capacitors from the 1920s always refers to this type.
Commonly known as silver mica capacitors, these rendered clamped mica capacitors obsolete. Instead of being clamped with foils these are assembled from sheets of mica coated on both sides with deposited metal. The assembly is dipped in epoxy. The advantages are:
Silvered mica capacitors are one of the less popularly used types due to their high cost.
They are sometimes informally referred to as mica capacitors. Any modern reference to mica capacitors can be assumed to mean these, unless pre-war equipment is being discussed.