Capacitors play a critical role in ensuring the functionality of the circuit. The major challenge in any circuit is to eliminate the noise from the power line or signal line such that the circuit operates within the desired operating conditions. This is where the decoupling and bypass capacitors play a role.
Decoupling Capacitor:
To explain simply, capacitor used between the DC-DC converter and ground at the output or input is a decoupling capacitor. This capacitor helps to pull the noise to ground and provide a cleaner supply to the loads connected to regulator. They also act as energy banks in the circuit and compensate for the sudden current draw by the circuit especially during the switching conditions.
Bypass Capacitor:
Bypass capacitor predominantly does the bypassing of noise in the circuit. For example, take a scenario where we introduce a capacitor near the connector of a circuit to eliminate the noise entering the circuit. This specially may be for particular frequencies which are causing EMI-EMC issues. The capacitor near the IC pin of the devices are also referred to as bypass capacitors.
Decoupling and bypass capacitor names are used interchangeably by engineers but the functionality is very clear. In fact, for the beginners one has to understand that there aren't separate decoupling and bypass capacitor. It is the same capacitor used for two different scenarios.
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