Promotion of Environmental
Measures on Products

In order to provide eco-friendly products to customers, FDK Groupemphasizes on designing eco-friendly products and developing products
containing no hazardous chemical substances for reducing environmental burdens contained in products.

FDK Group is stressing on providing eco-friendly products that imposes little environmental burdens through theaddressing reduced volume of materials used, utilizing and applying materials with little environmental burdens,
use of recycled materials and reducing energy consumption in manufacturing process. The eﬀorts of providing
small-in-size products with superior energy eﬃciency have resulted in development of multi-layer chip inductors.

Hiroshi Rikukawa

Corporate Vice President in charge oftechnological R&D and environmental aﬀairs

Promotion of Environmental
ManagementOﬀering Super-Green Products with the Top Environmental Elements
In ﬁscal 2004, in addition to green products, FDK Group has been involved in development of Super-Green Products with Top Environmental Elements.

Targets of the Third Environmental Action Plan

Promotion ofGreen Procurement

Provision of Super-Green Products by the end of ﬁscal 2006
・ Super Green Products are the advanced form of green products incorporating such properties as energy saving, 3R (Reduce,Reuse and Recycle)-based design, and elimination of hazardous chemical substances. They are forerunners having the world s
1st world s smallest nation s ﬁrst industry s ﬁrst nation s smallest and industry s smallest characteristics, which areintended to be released by the end of ﬁscal 2006.

Development of Super-Green Products

Promotion of Environmental
Measures on ProductsSuper-Green Products refer to products with top environmental
elements clearing all the assessment criteria from Step 1 to 3shown below. In ﬁscal 2004, a preliminary investigation was conducted on the Super-Green Products and 20 potential items wereidentiﬁed for development. FDK Group will further involve instudy and development of the products so that, by the end ofﬁscal 2006, Super-Green Products will be provided to customers
as many as possible from the 20 items identiﬁed.

Research and Development forImproving the Global Environment
The activities of FDK Group are not limited to R&D on electronicparts, but include R&D on improving the global environment. Sofar, the eﬀorts have resulted in application of a recycled block,Rictor Mat, for ﬂooring purposes. The Rictor Mat, made ofsludge, was originally developed aiming at combating with deterioration of the water quality of rivers and removing odors. FDKGroup also researches and develops environmental puriﬁcation
ﬁlters utilizing photocatalyst. FDK Group continues its eﬀorts forresearch and development to improve the global environment.

Measures for Global
Warming Prevention

Eco-Friendly Product Assessment
Category (Large Category)

Levels of Eco-Friendly Products andPositioning of Super-Green Products

Products
Eco-Friendliness
Level

Promotion ofGreen Factories
As a Global Citizen

Assessment Criteria

Basic Policy for Environment
and Action Plan

entire life cycle of products from development and design phases to disposal. For this purpose, FDK Group is

ＳＴＥＰ３Super-Green
Products

ＳＴＥＰ2
Green Products

ＳＴＥＰ1
Eco-Friendly Products(Product Assessment)

Super-Green Products
Products with top runner
eco-friendliness rating(PassedPassedHigh)Low(including hazardous chemical substances)■ Resource-saving and recycle-oriented design■ Reusability as resources■ Easiness for decomposition■ Energy-saving

Green Products
Products with enhanced
environmental consideration(■ Hazardousness)■ Easiness for disposal by disassembly

Packaging Materials■ Resource-saving and recycle-oriented design■ Reusability

PassedEco-Friendly Products■ Using materials

Others■ Disclosure of information■ Eco -friendliness11

Group Environmental Report 2005

Multi-layer power inductor (MIPF2520D Series)
From the developer
In order to decrease the size while maintaining theperformance level, the internal structure of the conventional products was changed. Based on thedesign of the conventional ones, shortened development time was realized by selecting the optimum
internal pattern structure by fully utilizing computer simulation (CAE technology).

Application:

Eco-Friendliness

Power inductors used for
DC-DC converter circuitsof small electronic products such as mobile phone,
PDA and digital camera

Compared with the similar products of FDKGroup, the product is smaller in size by 40%. Application of this product to a converter circuit
reduces power consumption due to its high conversion eﬃciency. The product is free of leadand can be mounted using lead-free solder.

Makoto Kawaguchi
Multi-Layer Inductor Section
Ceramic Component Div.

Common-Mode Choke Coil

Removal of noise for highspeed diﬀerential interface①IEEE1394a interface②USB2.0 interface③HDMI/DVI interface

From the developer
Miniaturization and high-speed orientation of electronic devices such as a notebook PC requires asmall-in-size and high-speed noise removal part.
High EMI reduction requires high common modeimpedance. The challenge in developing this product is to prevent decrease of common mode impedance due to the downsized product and of ferrite
magnetic permeability due to the higher frequency.

* EMI refers to electromagnetic interference which prevents
normal operation of electronic equipment.

Eco-FriendlinessYuji GotoElectronic Materials Research Section
Advanced Technology Lab.
Technology R&D Div.

Magneto-Optic Spatial Light Modulator

Eco-Friendliness
The combination of a magneto-optic garnet ﬁlm,
epoch-making cell formation method and driving
mechanism have realized a decrease in driving
current and energy saving. No hazardous chemical substances such as lead are used from theformation of the ﬁlm to mounting of a ﬂip chip.

Katsuhiro Iwasaki
Kazuma Takahashi

As a Global Citizen

Optical information processing equipment for the nextgeneration ultra high capacity optical disc system(hologram memory devices)

From the developer
In order to develop this product, a series of technology was developed including functional design using
a simulation method, comparison of the design andprototype experiments, manufacturing processdevelopment and assessment method. Startingfrom processing of substrate board to running theﬁnished device, there was a process of repeatedtrials and errors by fully using our research facilities. In the future, we will further challenge tomake the device moreenergy-saving and ecofriendly.

Promotion ofGreen Factories

Application:

Product characteristics
This is an ultra high speed special light modulator with the picture cell response time of several
tens of a nano second, which is developed jointlywith Professor Mitsuteru Inoue of Toyohashi University of Technology based on FDK s magnetooptic material technology. The product enables
to make a high speed data access to a large
capacity optical disc.

Measures for Global
Warming Prevention

The small-in-size product reduces the volume ofmaterials used. Lead-free plating is employed toits outer electrode, and lead-free solder can beused for mounting it.

Promotion of Environmental
Measures on Products

Application:

Product characteristics
This is a small-in-size and low serial current
resistance choke coil utilizing low temperature
ferrite sintering technology, high resolution
multi-layer printing technology and CAE. The
size is 1.20×1.00×0.50mm. It has a superior compatibility with various interfaces having diﬀerential impedance characteristics. Realization ofhigh common mode impedance has enabled suﬃcient level of reducing EMI*.

Promotion ofGreen Procurement

Component Business Department

Promotion of Environmental
Management

Product characteristics
This is a power inductor applying the multi-layertechnology. Compared with the conventionalcoils, it is smaller in size with enhanced performance. It contributes to realize smaller and thinner electronic products such as mobile phones.

Basic Policy for Environment
and Action Plan

Eco-Friendly Products Developed in ﬁscal 2004

Project S Dept.
Technology R&D Div.

12

Basic Policy for Environment
and Action Plan

Stepper Motor (M4.3 Series)

Application:

Promotion of Environmental
Management

Auto focusing and zooming of a digital camera
and a built-in camera of amobile phone

Product characteristics

From the developer

Applying our unique coil design technology and magnetic
circuit design technology as well as magnet manufactured
consistently from powder molding, the world s smallest andhigh-output torque stepper motors are developed. The size
is as small as 0.074cc with the diameter of 4.3mm. The
torque is higher than conventional stepper motors. Thoughsmall in size, decrease in torque is contained to a minimum.
Use of this stepper motor enables to realize further miniaturization both in size and weight and saving power consumption for applicable equipments.

The basic structure of the product series basically
employs the same as that of our conventional product series in order to maintain its superior performances. The appearance, therefore, is quite similar
with the conventional products of its kind. However, within a small body, various element technologies and know-how is ﬁlled, such as molding ofsmall magnets, magnetization and magnet circuit
parts processing. This product is realized by integrating and arranging these technologies in awell-managed way.

Eco-FriendlinessNobuyuki Sueyoshi, Yuuji Murata,
Yosuke Takahashi, Mitsuo Kinoshita,
Hideki Takeuchi, Isao Kojima,
Shohei Sawada, Naoya Ova,
Hiroki Tatara, Kazuhiko Nakayama
and Kyoko Nishio

Compared with SM5 series products, the smallest of its
kind in FDK, the size and use of resources have been
reduced by approx. 30%. Lead-free solder is used for soldering of coil terminals where ultra ﬁne magnet wire is used,making the product in compliance with the RoHS Directive.

New Generation Alkaline Battery G Plus

Promotion ofGreen Procurement

Application:

Promotion of Environmental
Measures on ProductsThis is a high power andhighly durable alkaline
battery. This is the mostﬁt for application to thedevices requiring highcurrent such as digitalcameras and PDAs, aswell as video games
and portable AV equipments.

Product characteristics

From the developer

A new conductive material is used to reduce signiﬁcantly
the internal resistance of cathode mix. At the same time,use of a new separator has improved its discharge
eﬃciency. All of this has enabled the battery to increase
the power by approx. 20%* compared to a conventional
AA and AAA batteries, making it the highest performances in alkaline batteries. This product is suitable todigital cameras, remote controllers of electric devices andany other electric products.

The key points in developing this battery are touplift the stable performance, to secure productsafety during the life of the product. Batteries
have recently been applied to digital cameras andother devices requiring high current. Therefore,
the aim of developing the new generation alkaline
batteries is placed on high performance andwidened application. At the same time, upgrading
customer satisfaction is also included in the development objectives, by the use of a special gasket
to prevent leakage of electrolyte, new type ofsurface treated steel to reduce contact resistancewith the devices, andemployment of universal design.

* Compared to the conventional alkaline batteries of FDK(AA battery: 2,000mA, 0.5S/300mA 59.5S when used,
AAA battery: 600mA when used continually)

Eco-FriendlinessMeasures for Global
Warming Prevention

The uplifted durability of this product (by approx. 20%*)has enabled the cycle of replacing batteries longer, andresources can be used eﬃciently. The packaging materials (blister pack) is made of recycled PET bottles and theinner boxes and the label of multiple pack are printed
using soybean ink, thus the product considers ecofriendliness.

Yuji Tsuchida

1st technical section
Technology Div.
FDK Energy Co., Ltd.

Non ‒contact Magnetic Polishing System

Promotion ofGreen Factories
As a Global Citizen

Application:
Precision polishing andprocessing of precision
machines, electronicand optical parts

Product characteristics

From the developer

Unlike conventional polishers, the non-contact magnetic
polishing system employs a polishing bite that does notcontact with the item for polishing. Therefore, no stressis imposed on the item (maximum distance from the biteand the item: 5mm). Due to this, items of irregularsurface can be polished such as thin ﬁlms and soft materials of irregular shape that has conventionally been
unable to be polished. These features have reduced thecost for mirror polishing of nano-level that was only done
by a large-sized and expensive polisher in the past.

The system currently uses magnetic polishing solvents,
but we are in the process of developing water solution
type magnetic polishing liquid using the FDK sferrite materials and recycled Mn-Zn sludge. The
polishing liquid of this type will greatly contributeto reduce environmental burdens from the view pointof working environment and eﬄuent treatment.

Eco-FriendlinessCompared with the conventional system, the power
consumption is signiﬁcantly reduced. The waste liquidcontaining magnetic body can be recycled for other applications as EMC* materials after removing water. This isa wet type polishing machine that polishes a vessel by
putting polishing liquid of a certain volume, no chips andparticles are scattered.
* EMC refers to electromagnetic compatibility, which is to reducethe impact by electromagnetic noise.

13

1st. Engineering Dept.
FDK Mechatronics Co., Ltd.

Keita Yamamoto
Rei Hanamura
Advanced Technology Lab.
Technology R&D Div.