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To: Jules B. Garfunkel who wrote (105448)	7/11/2000 4:59:36 AM
From: John Walliker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 186894

Jules, wasn't it reported that the tantalum capacitors had a proclivity to catch on fire and I have seen occasional tantalum capacitor failures. It usually happens when they are inserted the wrong way round or if their voltage rating is exceeded for a long time. They don't exactly burst into flames, rather make a pop and a little smoke. However, printed circuit tracks may be melted as they tend to fail to a short circuit, then explode and become an open circuit. It is only in the last couple of years that ceramic capacitors have been available in large enough values and small enough dimensions to take over the tantalum market. Also, as Ali Chen pointed out, the trend towards higher frequency switching supplies requires lower capacitances with lower equivalent series resistance. Ceramics are much better than tantalum in this respect. John

To: Jules B. Garfunkel who wrote (105448)	7/18/2000 8:36:59 AM
From: Amy J	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 186894

Hi Jules, RE: "I'm sorry that you wrote such a long post" No need to apologize - capacitors are important to semi investors. Too bad this doesn't get more discussion. RE: "tantalum capacitors had a proclivity to catch on fire and that is why they were being replaced by the ceramic capacitors?" In certain environments TCs smoke. And, in certain environments, ceramic caps smoke too. A wise engineer knows when to use one over the other. Yes, I seem to recall a report about TCs having a bit more of a smoke party in certain environments. RE: "sales of the tantalum capacitors were dramatically off." But the point is: watch caps (not just TCs) Starting about 9 months ago, the price of TCs shot up 10Xs. TCs went from being a couple of pennies to $1.00. That's more than a 10X increase in price in a few months. Material Management companies still have hotlinks to "Are You Having A Hard Time Finding Tantalum Capacitors? ... Click Here for Alternatives" The 9 months which have passed since the shortage first ensued, is more than enough time to design TCs out and ship a new product without TCs. RE: "Now this is not my field of expertise, but why didn't Jon know that" We are in agreement that more information should have been mentioned, which is what I said last week (did you not see/read it?) Regards, Amy J