You do not have the same lifespan issues with ceramic caps. You will lose
capacitance as the voltage increases. The amount you lose is dependant
on the dielectric.
When choosing the electrolytics you also need to look at the ESR, temperature
rating and the maximum operating temperature. Since the lifetime is predicted
using the Arrhenius activation energy law running using a 105°C rated
cap will give you a significant increase over running a 85°C cap (assuming
all other conditions are the same). There are some 5000 hour rated electrolytics.
ceramic should work as long as you meet the requirements in the datasheet: 0.1ohm < esr < 5ohm and srf > 1mhz.
Its probably easier to find those properties in a tantalum cap, especially back in 2002 when that datasheet was released.
EDIT: Some more info about LDO stability and why the ESR has to fall in a particular range.
A generic LDO works by comparing the output voltage to an internal voltage reference with an error amplifier and driving a PNP transistor to correct for this error.
The problem comes in when you look at the phase shift and loop gain of this feedback path. The error amplifier and the load being driven both contribute poles to the frequency response of the feedback loop. These poles act as a low pass filter resulting in loop gain decreasing as frequency increases. As we know a pole also introduces a negative phase shift. If this phase shift is allowed to reach -180deg the feedback loop becomes unstable and the LDO will oscillate.
What this means is that every time the error amp tries to compensate for an error the result of its correction is 180deg out of phase, or inverted, consequently the error amp is basically thrown for a loop and begins making the opposite correction that it should be making, resulting in wild instability.
To avoid this situation we need to prevent the phase shift in the feedback loop from ever getting to -180deg, actually we only need to keep it from reaching -180deg within the region that the LDO can generate gain > 1 as the damped response of the system past this point will prevent oscillation. This frequency is defined by the unity-gain point of PNP pass transistor.
The way we prevent this phase shift is by using a capacitor with a ESR in a certain region. The capacitance will shift the pole created by the load but more importantly the ESR will contribute a higher frequency zero. Basically you've added a high pass filter to the feedback loop. The phase shift introduced by the ESR will work to counteract the phase shift introduced at lower frequencies by the poles from the error amp and the load.
The reason that the ESR has to be in a particular range is that if its too low, the zero contributed to the frequency response will be located very high in frequency, above the unity-gain point of the pass transistor. As a result its not effective in making sure the phase shift of the feedback loop doesn't reach -180deg before the unity-gain frequency.
If the ESR is too high, the zero will be very low in frequency. There is another pole in the frequency response created by the parasitics of the pass transistor, if the zero from the capacitor ESR is too low in frequency, this pole will be reached while we still have gain > 1, this will cancel out the effect of the ESR zero and we will likely reach -180deg phase shift before we reach unity gain.
All that said, these problems are indicative of older LDO designs. Many/Most/All new designs include additional internal compensation in the feedback loop which uncouples LDO stability from the ESR specification of the output capacitors.
Best Answer
As a general rule, parts are not suitable for volume production after a few years. I forget the exact length of time and there are no hard and fast rules either. The main reason for this is due to solder-ability (the finish on the pins/pads gets messed up in ways that makes soldering less reliable). I want to say that the time is approximately 2 to 3 years, but like I said, no hard and fast rules. I'm sure if you kept parts for 5-10 years they would still function but you might have to do more rework when they are finally put onto a PCB.
Time is measured from date of manufacturer, not date of shipment.
For prototyping purposes, the time is much longer. I have parts that were stored in small plastic bins (on their original reels/tape) for 15+ years and have not had issues with using them.
Ceramic and Tantalum caps should have a longer shelf life than caps with a liquid electrolyte, like aluminum electrolytic caps because there is nothing inside to dry out. But I have 15+ year old Aluminum caps that work fine for prototyping.
Also, some parts need to be stored in a low-humidity environment and/or baked before being soldered down. This mostly applies to some chips, some diodes, and some MOSFETs.
Each part manufacturer should have documentation on storage conditions, and shelf life. If shelf life is important, then it is in your best interest to contact the mfg and get that documentation.