Passive networks on verge of reality
CLIP from bottom of article. The techies are going to have to explain this one:
>>Another shift in the passives market is the trend toward RC arrays
for filtering. AVX, for example, introduced its 0612 low-pass filter
array, which replaces 12 discretes. The array offers four RCR T-filters
with a dual common ground, the equivalent of eight resistors and four
capacitors in one chip. Initial specs are offered with capacitance
values of 10 to 50 pF and resistance values from 10 to 500 ohms. It
also features a custom Rambus design for the differential clock filter.<<
Date: 01/15 00:54 EST
Passive networks on verge of reality
Jan. 14, 2000 (Electronic Engineering Times - CMP via COMTEX) --
Industry buzz over the newest generation of integrated passive devices
may not have turned into orders as fast as component suppliers would
like. Yet vendors are optimistic that the high degree of interest in
IPDs, along with a few new technology twists, will translate into many
design wins in this new year.
Continuing pressure from OEMs to improve performance, save board
space and cut costs will drive a migration toward these integrated
devices, which contain multiple passives and may also pack some active
elements, said Glyndwr Smith, senior vice president of Vishay
Intertechnology Inc. (Malvern, Pa.).
To put the squeeze on size and costs, IPD makers are increasingly
turning to chip-scale packages. Several suppliers-including Bourns,
California Micro Devices, Intarsia, IRC's Advanced Film Division and
KOA Speer Electronics-now offer chip-scale packaging solutions, and
other manufacturers are considering doing the same.
"Over the next several years, you'll see some breakthroughs that will
allow five to 10 times the amount of passive functionality currently
available in smaller footprints," said John T. Hoback, director of
marketing and sales at CTS Resistor Electro Components (Berne, Ind.).
CTS is among the companies looking closely at new packaging styles to
increase functionality and minimize footprint, Hoback said.
Though Vishay's Smith is optimistic that IPDs will play an
increasingly important role in the electronics industry, he
acknowledged that they face an uphill battle to gain mind-share with
users and designers, simply because they are passive components.
Yet the larger OEMs are starting to look at IPDs, said Steve Wade,
director of sales and marketing at IRC's Advanced Film Division (Corpus
Christi, Texas). "We've talked so much about the advantages [of IPDs]
that OEMs are starting to come around."
Indeed, the demand for IPDs is climbing rapidly, said Jeff Kalb,
president and chief executive officer at California Micro Devices
(Milpitas, Calif.). High-frequency applications and low-voltage ICs are
contributing to the interest in IPDs, he said. As customers run their
systems faster and drop the voltages, they need more 1 percent
resistors and lower crosstalk-things that IPDs are good at, he said.
Right now, most of the demand continues to come from the PC,
networking and basestation markets. The PC sector has standardized
solutions for buses and various functions, allowing component
manufacturers to design standard products for those applications.
Kalb said he hasn't seen a major flow of orders from cell-phone
companies, and he attributes the lag in demand to a lack of
standardization. Kalb believes cell-phone makers want to go directly to
chip-scale packaging, not yet the industry norm.
Investment issues
"Not everyone is set up to handle this newer type of packaging. There
can be some investment issues for users, and they will have to
determine if it makes sense for them to do it," said Robbie Izat,
international product marketing manager for integrated discretes at
Philips Semiconductors (San Jose, Calif.). Space, cost and
performance-all come into play in selecting the right packaging
solution, Izat said.
Yet when the cell-phone market finally forms, it could be huge, said
Jim Young, vice president of business development at Intarsia Corp.
(Fremont, Calif.). "They've already integrated the IC as much as they
can, but [now] they've got to attack the passives," he said.
Teaming IPDs with chip-scale packages brings down costs and saves
space, Young said. The cost of a conventional package is roughly 40 to
70 percent of the cost of the device, making them too expensive and too
large for cell-phone applications, he said.
Intarsia has several IPD products in the pipeline, including LC
filters, RC filters, low-noise amplifiers, a GPS module and a module
for the Bluetooth RF network.
Resistor maker IRC, meanwhile, recently expanded its line of
integrated passive networks with the addition of chip-scale packaging.
The chip-scale networks will find homes in filtering and termination
circuit applications for all types of high-speed data communications
products, said Wade. Based on IRC's TaNSil silicon-based semiconductor
technology, the surface-mount packages may replace up to 50
conventionally packaged discrete components.
The development was driven by customer demand for smaller
passive-network packages with lower parasitic inductance, Wade said.
The ultrashort signal path, which results in lower parasitic
inductance, reduces signal delays and ground-bounce effect, which can
degrade high-frequency performance, he said.
Highly integrated products are also getting a good reception from the
market. "The idea of packing more in a package is important, and if you
can pull in semiconductor technology at some level, you leap over the
next level of passives," said Kalb. Early last year, California Micro
Devices introduced the first multifunctional IPD for the PC market. The
PAC KBMU is designed to provide multiple functions required to filter
and protect the circuitry in the Universal Serial Bus and
keyboard/mouse controllers from pulses of electrostatic discharge.
The company's latest IPD addition combines ESD protection with
termination resistors for VGA applications. The first step in
integrating passive and active devices is the addition of ESD
protection in the form of diodes. The next level of integration will
include transistors.
With the exception of early-generation IPDs such as resistor
networks, newer devices tend to be more application-specific. A good
example is the IEEE-1294 parallel-port variety of IPDs for filtering
and termination.
Companies like Philips, with activity in both semiconductors and
passives, are in a good position to take advantage of the IPD trend.
The most significant recent product development at Philips is to
incorporate 2-kV-diode protection for component-level protection, and
8-kV-diode protection for system protection.
Late last year, Philips Components introduced an eight-resistor bused
network in a 10-pin 1206-case size for signal matching on computer
motherboards.
A new integrated RC network from Philips Components targets
board-space savings and lower assembly costs. The four-resistor,
four-capacitor RC network is available in a 10-pin 1608 surface-mount
package, and is small enough to be placed beneath an IC for additional
space savings and improvements in reliability.
BI Technologies Corp. (Fullerton, Calif.) said it has improved its
line of nichrome-based thin-film precision resistor networks. Adding a
barrier layer to the process solves the moisture problem typically
associated with nichrome resistor networks, said Tom Smiley, vice
president of planning and business development. The company also offers
a line of tantalum-nitride-on-silicon thin-film precision resistor
networks and thick-film resistor networks.
In thick-film resistor networks, KOA Speer Electronics Inc.
(Bradford, Pa.) sees a move from molded packaging to chip arrays, which
offer more design flexibility while reducing component count. The
newest additions to the company's thick-film products include
mixed-value resistor arrays, resistor-capacitor chip arrays and 1
percent tolerance chip arrays for computer and server markets.
Jeff Rice, vice president of sales and marketing at KOA Speer,
expects 50 percent growth in the thin-film network market next year.
In November, Vishay Intertechnology introduced a new series of
surface-mount thin-film precision resistor networks in narrow-body
small-outline IC packages. The NOMC series features a temperature
coefficient ratio tracking of plus/minus 5 ppm/ degrees C, a seven or
eight resistance count with tolerances to plus/minus 0.1 percent and
resistance ratio matching to plus/minus 0.05 percent.
Vishay's newest thin-film networks include the VTSRC, VSSRC and VSORC
T-filter resistor/capacitor networks in 25- or 50-mil pitches.
Chip-array makers have also tried to keep up with demand for new
products. Last month, Philips expanded its integrated passive line with
a four-resistor array that combines four 0402-size resistors in a 0804
surface-mount package. The new array takes up only about half the board
area of four equivalent discrete 0402 chips, the company said.
Bourns Inc. (Riverside, Calif.) last year introduced two new chip
resistor arrays, the CAY10 and CAY17, which improved component
placement. The CAY10 features four insulated resistors in a 0804-size
package and is offered in a convex termination style. It is available
in the E12 series, from 10 ohms to 1 megohm. The CAY17 is a
10-terminal, eight-resistor bused chip array in a 1206-size package. It
features a convex termination style and a resistance tolerance of 5
percent, and is available in the E12 series from 100 to 100,000 ohms.
The major focus for most chip array suppliers is cutting size, since
that is what the market is demanding, said Joe Rana, marketing manager
for integrated passives at AVX Corp. (Myrtle Beach, S.C.). Thus, AVX is
shifting to a smaller 0508-size array from an 0612 size to meet demand
from portable-product customers such as cellular-phone and PDA
manufacturers.
Murata Electronics North America (Smyrna, Ga.) initially offered its
line of chip-cap arrays in 0612 packages. Now that has been shrunk into
0805-size packages. Most of Murata's development efforts center on
integration.
Another shift in the passives market is the trend toward RC arrays
for filtering. AVX, for example, introduced its 0612 low-pass filter
array, which replaces 12 discretes. The array offers four RCR T-filters
with a dual common ground, the equivalent of eight resistors and four
capacitors in one chip. Initial specs are offered with capacitance
values of 10 to 50 pF and resistance values from 10 to 500 ohms. It
also features a custom Rambus design for the differential clock filter.
---
COMPANY CONTACTS
AVX Corp.
(843) 448-9411
www.avxcorp.com
EETInfo No. 601
---
Bourns Inc.
(909) 781-5500
www.bourns.com
EETInfo No. 602
---
BI Technologies Corp.
(714) 447-2345
www.bitechnologies.com
EETInfo No. 603
---
California Micro Devices Corp.
(408) 263-3214
www.calmicro.com
EETInfo No. 604
---
CTS Resistor Electro
Components
(219) 589-3111
www.ctscorp.com
EETInfo No. 605
---
Intarsia Corp.
(510) 403-6000
www.intarsiacorp.com
EETInfo No. 606
---
IRC's Advanced Film Division
(361) 992-3377
www.irctt.com
EETInfo No. 607
---
KOA Speer Electronics Inc.
(814) 362-5536
www.koaspeer.com
EETInfo No. 608
---
Murata Electronics North America Inc.
(770) 436-1300
www.murata.com
EETInfo No. 609
---
Philips Semiconductor
(408) 570-5600
www.passives.comp.philips.com
EETInfo No. 610
---
Rohm Corp.
(615) 641-2020
www.rohm.com
EETInfo No. 611
---
Vishay Intertechnology Inc.
(610) 644-1300
www.vishay.com
EETInfo No. 612
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By: Gina Roos
Copyright 2000 CMP Media Inc.
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