NEC recently announced it is selling off its passive components business to Tokin Corporation. NEC has been in a long process of spinning off electronic operations not considered part of its new focused core business. Tantalum supplies are often volatile while niobium is plentifully available, so this is potentially a very important development. May not Have Hit Bottom With parts readily available, the high prices and long lead times OEMs experienced last year are unlikely to resurface soon, say suppliers and analysts. Even if market conditions improve slightly, customers will continue to seek low prices, squeezing component makers' already thin margins.
Several companies expect to be manufacturing niobium capacitors in volume by early next year.
Tantalum Carnage Continues in the Congo Bad publicity and slumping demand may have curbed the illicit trade in tantalum ore from the Congo, but warring over the country' s mineral-rich regions wages on. The U.N. fingers a German company as the main culprit. Ideal for use in low voltage applications, these capacitors feature low dielectric absorption, superior thermal shock resistance and capacitance values which are constant over a wide temperature range. Leslie Green explains how a more useful model correctly predicts an inductor s behavior over a range of frequencies. This overview of niobium versus tantalum for electrolytic capacitor comes from Kemet, one of the world largest capacitor manufacturers.