Niobium chip capacitors offer tantalum alternative

In response to strong market interest Epcos is the first manufacturer worldwide to ramp up production of its range of niobium chip capacitors.

In response to strong market interest Epcos is the first manufacturer worldwide to ramp up production of its range of niobium chip capacitors.

This market interest has seen the manufacturer rapidly expanding its production capabilities and volume production will initially focus in on case sizes D and V.

In case size D capacitors rated at 100uF/10V are already available.

The development of capacitors in case size D rated at 150uF/10V and 220uF/6.3V and in case size V rated at 68uF/10V and 100uF/6.3V has already been completed.

In addition, Epcos will widen the product range in all of the case sizes.

Components with higher rated voltages will be added to the series over the coming year.

Ongoing development of this series will also see the manufacturer raising the operating temperature range for niobium capacitors from 105 to 125C thus making the devices suitable for use in a wider range of applications that require higher temperatures.

Niobium powder is more abundant than tantalum thus it can solve potential procurement problems that have recently been associated with tantalum counterparts.

Niobium is also more stable when it comes to pricing and offers real benefits to design engineers such as higher volumetric capacitance which ultimately leads to space savings in terms of component size making the devices ideal for use in space critical applications.

Design engineers will be able to obtain either the same capacitance in a fraction of the space previously required or they will be able to have substantially higher capacitance in the same space.

Typical applications include mobile phones and the complete range of communication and information system projects.

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