Electronics Automation

RS Components has added advanced functions to its website to further ease its customers' RoHS compliance efforts.
RS Components has added advanced functions to its website to further ease its customers' RoHS compliance efforts. With businesses still unaware of the exact details of the RoHS Directive, and what is required of them to achieve compliance, RS is providing unparalleled support. Klaus Goeldenbot, RS UK General Manager, said: 'RoHS is almost on us but our customer feedback suggests that not everyone is ready'.

'The main issue facing customers is their ability to demonstrate compliance'.

'Through the RS website functionality and its new tools, any business can be certain of each and every product's compliance status'.

The first of the new website functions is a printable certificate of RoHS conformance, a link to which appears next to every compliant product within the online catalogue.

Simply clicking on this link brings up the certificate, which includes the standard statement of RoHS compliance and full product information including RS stock number and manufacturer details.

This new service helps businesses to meet the legal requirements of the Directive to maintain product records for four years, and show 'due diligence' that they have done everything possible to comply.

For those products whose compliance status is yet to be confirmed, customers can use a new, upgraded version of RS's online 'Notify me' service.

Users can add products to a personal RoHS watch list and this service allows users to request an automatic e-mail notification when there is a change in the product's compliance status.

Further details on both new services can be found at the RS RoHS Knowledge Centre.

The new RoHS services are building on RS' existing credentials and support for the Directive.

Earlier this year, RS became the first UK distributor to be awarded the BSI's RoHS Trusted kitemark, one of the best known and respected certification marks in the world.

That stands alongside RS's existing ISO 9001 and ESD S20.20 approvals, which provide further reassurance for electronics purchasers.

In addition, RS is continuously carrying out random in-house testing to ensure full compliance information for all products.

Goeldenbot continues: 'Businesses need to understand that planning for RoHS can require a lot of work, but even now it is not too late'.

'With the complete RS suite available to all, those businesses can now get help every step of the way to meet the requirements of the RoHS Directive'.

'Any business still struggling to meet understand and meet their obligations can find help and guidance online at rswww.com/rohs'.

Maxwell Technologies has signed supply agreements with seven new distribution partners, strengthening and expanding the company's growing international channel network.
Maxwell Technologies has signed supply agreements with seven new distribution partners, strengthening and expanding the company's growing international channel network. The new partner relationships further strengthen Maxwell's presence in Europe and North America, and significantly expand its presence in the Asia Pacific and South Asia Technology markets. Channel partners supply Maxwell' s Boostcap ultracapacitor products and provide support services to the company's rapidly growing customer base in the transportation, automotive, telecommunications, and industrial and consumer electronics markets.

The channel expansion follows the recent introduction of more than 30 new Boostcap products to better meet customer demand for a broader range of form factors and fully integrated multicell ultracapacitor packs and modules.

The expanded channel network augments the company's direct sales force in delivering products and services to designers and engineers who are turning to ultracapacitors to augment or replace batteries and other primary energy sources for 'life of the application' power delivery and energy storage solutions.

'As a Maxwell distributor, being able to offer the Boostcap ultracapacitor line allows us to bring new products and services to our customers and opens doors into markets and applications we could not previously address', said Tom Wight, National Sales Manager for the Tecate Group, a supplier of capacitor and manufacturing solutions to the military, medical, utility and telecommunications industries throughout North America and India.

'Worldwide adoption of ultracapacitor products is growing and we are pleased to be part of this exciting design and engineering trend'.

'Electronic designers in Asia recognise the value and importance of ultracapacitors across many important consumer and industrial applications', said Sam-Min, Sales Engineer for Motech Industries, a Taiwanese distributor of electronic components.

'Demand for Boostcap products is on the rise in the Asia Pacific region and we are very pleased to support this innovative electronics community as a Maxwell channel partner'.

Dr Richard Balanson, Maxwell's President and Chief Executive Officer, said that the company is moving aggressively to expand and strengthen both its direct sales force and external sales channels to ensure efficient distribution and responsive service to customers in all parts of the world.

'The worldwide ultracapacitor market is growing rapidly across regions and industries, and Maxwell is committed to strengthening its global reach in all key industrial regions', Balanson said.

'We continuously strive to improve our products and customer support to meet the demand for cleaner, more reliable and efficient power and energy solutions'.

'Our channel partners help to ensure that all potential customers have ready access to Maxwell's products and ensure that the Boostcap brand is well-represented across the globe'.

The newly signed Boostcap distribution channel partners are: Tecate Group - North America and India; ECOM - Czech Republic and Slovakia; Kyokuto Boeki Kaisha - Japan; CH Trading Corp - Korea; Motech Industries - Taiwan; Desner Electronics - Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines; and Glyn - Australia and New Zealand.

The new DR365-1 and DR365-2 Inductors from Datatronic Distribution offer superior performance and reliability.
Design engineers looking for a miniature surface mount inductor that provides effective EMI protection for their applications will find the new DR365-1 and DR365-2 inductors from Datatronic Distribution, offer superior performance and reliability. The inductors also meet the requirements for RoHS compliance. The ultra-thin DR365-1 and DR365-2 Inductors feature a seated height as low as 0.047 inches (1.2 mm) above the printed circuit board depending on the inductance value required by the design.

These inductors are ideal for a wide range of portable, compact and miniature devices, such as PDAs, mobile phones, portable hard drives, medical appliances, bar code scanners-wherever high-density circuit board design is a requirement.

In addition to their small size, the DR365-1 and DR365-2 feature a wide inductance range from 3.3 to 100 uH (at 100 kHz, 0.1V), with a DCR range from 0.11 to 2.8 ohms and a maximum rated current from 0.20 to 1.2 amps.

They operate over a wide temperature range from -20 to +80C, making them suitable for use in many rugged environments.

The DR365-1 and DR365-2 Inductors are designed with materials that meet the requirements of UL94V-0 for flammability.

With their slender surface mount package design, high performance over a wide inductance range and rugged design, these inductors are ideal for use in a wide range of markets, including industrial, medical, instrumentation, telecom and computer.

The advanced DR365-1 and DR365-2 come in a square package as small as 0.237 inches square (6mm square).

Their flat top design makes them compatible with high-speed pick-and-place assembly equipment, and they are suitable for high-temperature soldering.

They are shipped standard on tape-and-reel with 2,000 pieces provided per reel.

Custom designed DR365-1 and DR365-2 Series Inductors are available upon request to meet unique circuit requirements.

The DR365-1 and DR365-2 Inductors are priced from $0.44 each in typical production volumes.

The Actel Fusion programmable system chip has won the French electronics industry's annual Electron d'Or award for best innovative programmable logic product of the year.
The Actel Fusion programmable system chip (PSC) has won the French electronics industry's annual Electron d'Or award for best innovative programmable logic product of the year. The esteemed prize was presented to Actel by French electronics trade magazine Electronique at an awards ceremony held in Paris on 14th June 2006. In the programmable logic category, Actel, Xilinx, Altera and QuickLogic were nominated.

An independent jury of industry journalists, experts, engineering companies and end users voted to determine the Actel Fusion PSC as the winner.

Commenting on the award, Patrizio Piasentin, Regional Manager of Southern Europe for Actel said: 'As a company, we are committed to the continued research and development of innovative technologies that will add value for our customers'.

'Therefore, we are truly honoured to have won this prestigious award amidst tough competition'.

The Electron d'Or award, the third industry award win this year for the Actel Fusion PSC, recognises the innovative nature of an advanced mixed-signal programmable logic platform.

The EP2C15 is the newest member of the low-cost Cyclone II FPGA family, featuring a higher memory-to-logic ratio than previously available.
Altera Corporation has introduced a new member of its low-cost Cyclone II FPGA family, the EP2C15A. Featuring 240Kbit of embedded RAM and 14,448 logic elements, the new Altera device gives designers a higher memory-to-logic ratio than previously available. Altera designed the EP2C15A with 'fast-on' capability, shortening the power-on time of the device at start up, and enabling it to meet the 50ms requirement for automotive applications.

The Cyclone II FPGA family members EP2C8 and EP2C20 are also now available with the new fast-on feature.

'A wide range of choices in the lower density range of the Cyclone II FPGA family provides engineers with more options when designing cost-sensitive, high-volume applications', said Luanne Schirrmeister, Altera's Director of Marketing for Low-Cost Products.

'Specifically in the automotive market, the fast-on capability will be compelling for applications such as navigation, rear-seat entertainment, car networking and driver assistance'.

The Cyclone series of devices is the market leader in low-cost FPGAs.

Available on 90 and 130nm process technologies and designed from the ground up for low cost, Cyclone FPGAs enable customers to enjoy first-to-market success, greater product differentiation and increased profit versus what they might gain from alternative solutions such as ASICs or ASSPs.

The Cyclone II FPGA family also offers the highest performance of any competing low-cost FPGA and consumes as little as 12mW of static power.

Engineering samples for Cyclone II FPGAs with fast-on capability are available for booking now from Altera and authorised distributors, with production units available next month.

The latest version of the Actel Libero integrated design environment has new features intended to increase the flexibility, efficiency and performance of designs based on the company's FPGAs.
Actel has released a new version of its Libero integrated design environment (IDE) with new features intended to increase the flexibility, efficiency and performance of designs based on the company's field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). With the enhanced SmartGen, SmartTime and SmartPower tools, the Libero IDE 7.2 offers new capabilities for intellectual property (IP) generation to support the Actel Fusion Programmable System Chip (PSC) offerings. It also offers advanced timing and power analysis functionalities for designers using the Actel Fusion, ProASIC3 and RTAX-S families.

'As more system engineers turn to FPGAs, the Libero IDE 7.2 allows these designers to leverage the capabilities of the Fusion platform whether they are coming from an SoC, mixed-signal, discrete or analogue design environment', said Jake Chuang, Senior Director, Application Solutions Marketing at Actel.

'Delivering on Actel's commitment to deliver tools to increase designer efficiency and FPGA device performance, the comprehensive IDE, with its new SmartGen, SmartTime and SmartPower features, now also enables designers to meet their design requirements while lowering costs and improving the reliability of their complete system'.

For a large variety of commonly used IP functions, the SmartGen tool provides users with design automation functionality to import existing cores and create new ones for their Fusion-based designs.

New features include a sample sequencer, a sample sequence configurator and a visual phase-locked loop (PLL) configurator.

Further, the state management capability that audits module changes and dependencies can now pass this information directly to Libero, allowing the designer to update all dependent modules with one click.

In addition, SmartGen now supports the direct update of nonvolatile memory for analogue system blocks, thereby reducing or eliminating lengthy iterations through synthesis.

Actel's SmartTime feature provides static timing analysis capabilities based on industry standards, such as Synopsys Design Constraints (SDC), as well as new visual constraint dialogs, thereby easing the transition from ASICs to mixed-signal FPGAs.

Clock-source latency analysis, which allows the definition of a clock constraint for clock jitter, is another new feature to help designers analyse FPGA timing in the context of its surrounding environment.

SmartTime also supports recovery and removal checks for proper timing of asynchronous signals for both internally and externally generated clocks.

Enhancements to Actel's SmartPower power analysis tool, enables users to perform detailed power-consumption analysis, helping to conserve power, cut costs and improve design reliability.

SmartPower is now able to generate power consumption information for nets, gates, I/O, RAM, FIFOs and clocks or alternatively, block-by-block by component type.

The tool performs rail checks and collates power for all defined voltages.

Further, SmartPower supports an enable-rate specifier capability for the per-load estimation of time and active output drives, offering designers the ability to achieve more accurate system power calculations.

New from Link Microtek is a family of surface-mount clock oscillators and VCXOs that not only offer high performance but are available with exceptionally short lead times
New from microwave and RF component specialist Link Microtek is a family of surface-mount clock oscillators and VCXOs that not only offer high performance but are available with exceptionally short lead times of typically 2 weeks or less. Manufactured by MtronPTI, the M210x series clock oscillators and M310x series VCXOs utilise the company's 'QiK Chip' ASIC-based technology to deliver a wide frequency range of 150MHz to 1.4GHz and a low integrated jitter value of typically 0.3ps, which is comparable with more expensive SAW-technology alternatives. In terms of thermal stability, the new devices outperform SAW equivalents: using a standard AT-cut crystal resonator, the QiK Chip products achieve stabilities of +/-20ppm over the industrial temperature range of -40 to +85degC, compared with typical values of +/-100ppm over the more limited range of -20 to +70degC for SAW-based oscillator designs.

Fully RoHS compliant, the M210x clock oscillators and M310x VCXOs are available in either 7 x 5mm leadless or 14 x 9mm J-lead ceramic packages andcan be specified with supply voltages of 1.8V, 2.5V or 3.3V and a choice of LVPECL, LVDS or CML compatible outputs.

The combination of high performance and short lead times is expected to make the new devices particularly attractive for applications such as high-speed Ethernet, microwave radios, advanced Sonet systems, and high-precision test and measurement equipment.

Abacus Group has become the largest UK franchised distributor to achieve the BSI RoHS Kitemark licence for RoHS awareness and implementation in its UK operation.
Abacus Group Electronic Component Distribution (ECD) has become the largest UK franchised distributor to achieve the BSI RoHS Kitemark licence for RoHS awareness and implementation in its UK operation. The Kitemark was awarded after a 3 month independent audit that verified not only Abacus Group's business processes for maintaining up to date information on each of the 1.7 million line items on its system, but also the knowledge and awareness of its staff. Greg Nicol, Group Purchasing Director, commented: 'Our Kitemark gives customers and suppliers confidence that we are a supplier that they can trust, and that we have rigorous processes implemented by staff that understand both the regulations and our system correctly'.

'We have invested significantly in IT, logistics and staff training, to ensure that customers are provided with the most accurate available information on the current status of each and every part on their bill of materials'.

He added: 'Obtaining independent validation from BSI demonstrates that the compliance processes that we have implemented over the past few years are excellent'.

'Gaining it was a significant achievement, as a Kitemark is not awarded lightly'.

'One of the steps we had to go through was to demonstrate that our RoHS procedures had been integrated fully with our quality system, for example'.

The RoHS Trusted Kitemark has been developed using a combination of the publicly available specification EIA/ECCB-954 and a formal protocol that has been specifically developed for the RoHS Directive.

Surface mount conductive polymer capacitors combine ultralow equivalent series resistance with the lowest inductance available on the market for products of this type.
Kemet has launched a new series of face down termination conductive polymer capacitors. The new surface mount devices combine ultralow equivalent series resistance (ESR) with the lowest inductance (ESL) available on the market for products of this type. Initial offerings of the T528 series, which specifies an inductance of less than 0.7nH at 20MHz, are targeted at high-speed server and microprocessor decoupling applications that are driving demand for low inductance parts.

Featuring terminations on the underside of the component as opposed to standard wrap-around terminations, the T528 series is initially being offered with a 330uF capacitance and rated voltage of 2.5V.

A choice of 9 or 12mohm ESR parts is available.

Both are housed in low profile Z-size cases measuring 7.3 x 4.3mm and with a height of just 1.7mm.

The new polymer capacitors feature a nonignition failure mode and a self-healing mechanism.

They are RoHS compliant and suitable for use over a temperature range of -55 to +105C.

Fox Electronics has extended the frequency range and stability options of its popular F4100 Series crystal oscillators to 170MHz with stabilities as tight as +50ppm (F4105) for all conditions.
Fox Electronics has extended the frequency range and stability options of its popular F4100 Series crystal oscillators to 170MHz with stabilities as tight as +50ppm (F4105) for all conditions. The oscillators are ideal for applications that require increased speeds and better noise characteristics, such as Fibre Channel, Sonet, ATM, microprocessors and microcontrollers. The new oscillators' extremely low profile makes them ideal for portable PC and instrumentation designs.

A 3.3V HCMOS miniature surface mount device, the F4100 provides increased battery life, reduced heat generation and improved EMI characteristics as well as a standby mode for lower power consumption.

With a standard operating temperature range of -10 to +70C, the Series F4100 also has an optional -40 to +85C range.

Output symmetry for the F4100 Series is 40 to 60% at 1.65 V over the frequency range of 50 to 170MHz; maximum input current is 60mA.

The Series F4105 is available in bulk quantities or on a 2000-unit tape and reel for automatic assembly systems.

Fox Electronics has expanded its custom frequency control product development capability with the establishment of the Fox Customer Technology Centre.
Fox Electronics has expanded its custom frequency control product development capability with the establishment of the Fox Customer Technology Centre. In announcing the centre, Fox President EL Fox Jr stated that: "While Fox continues to serve its customer base with the world's broadest range of standard off-the-shelf products, it has become clear that, more and more, our customers are counting on us to come up with very specific, nonstandard solutions to their unique application needs. Our Customer Technology Centre (CTC) will focus on just that, by providing advanced crystal, oscillator, TCXO and VCXO design resources".

The new Fox Customer Technology Centre represents an integration and expansion of Fox's design engineering and customer support resources, including field application engineering, featuring additional FAEs to interface with customers in the field, and an expanded Technical Support Group.

The Fox CTC will integrate added custom production capabilities, as well, including an expanded range of thick and thin film, laser, pick and place, wire bonding and wafer handling processes.

The centre will also make use of Fox's patented technology for oscillator and RF applications up to 1.46GHz for advanced telecomms and fibre-optic products.

Fox added: "As America's premier frequency control provider, we're obligated to lead the way in product development tied to market needs.

Within the next few weeks, we'll be rolling out a series of new products originating from our CTC".

To give the design engineer maximum assistance with new product design, Epcos Components has had its latest surface acoustic wave (SAW) designer's kit introduced into the Farnell catalogue.
To give the design engineer maximum assistance with new product design, Epcos Components has had its latest surface acoustic wave (SAW) designer's kit introduced into the Farnell catalogue. The kit enables engineers to have at hand the essential SAW components for designing a wide spectrum of RF applications. Included within the kit is a number of leading edge filters and resonators that are used within automotive keyless entry systems, short range radio, digital audio broadcast and wireless networking applications.

The kit is ideal for use in research and development departments/test houses and includes through hole and SMD packages for different styles of board design.

The kit itself contains a mix of components such as SAW filters, one/two port resonator and microwave ceramic filters.

The kit allows the engineer to have flexibility within the design phase of his project: the best component to do the job can be selected and tried instantly without waiting for delivery of individual parts.

Also included within the kit is a CD-ROM and diskette providing the design engineer with a broad range of information such as fully detailed data sheets in PDF format, in depth application notes and comprehensive SAW/microwave ceramic selection guides.

The DS3600 is the industry's first comprehensive secure battery-backup controller for data protection in point-of-sale terminals.
Dallas Semiconductor introduces the DS3600, industry's first comprehensive secure battery-backup controller for data protection in point-of-sale terminals. First in a family of secure battery-management products, the DS3600 provides active tamper detection and rapid-erasure key memory. It supports FIPS-140 security levels 3 and 4, and meets the highest requirements of Common Criteria.

The DS3600 is packaged in a CSBGA, a preferred choice for certification because no pins are exposed to the outside world so the package is resistant to tampering.

The memory architecture on the DS3600 is innovative and unique to secure battery-backup controllers from Dallas Semiconductor.

Indeed, the memory architecture is what makes this new IC unique.

The DS3600's proprietary, on-chip nonvolatile SRAM is used for storage of encryption keys.

This memory architecture constantly complements the SRAM cells to eliminate the possibility of memory imprinting due to oxide stresses.

As a result, this technology prevents the passive detection of data remnants in stressed memory cells.

When the DS3600 generates a tamper alarm, the entire 64byte array is cleared within 100ns.

This erasure of data is this fast because the memory's high-speed direct hardwired clearing function and on-chip power source ensure active erasure.

The DS3600 has tamper-detection inputs to interface with system voltages, resistive meshes, external sensors, and digital interlocks.

Using a low-power operation, it also monitors those components continuously.

The device monitors the integrated real-time-clock (RTC) crystal oscillator and will invoke a tamper response if the oscillator frequency falls outside the set threshold.

The internal digital temperature sensor has a programmable rate-of-change detector that protects the DS3600's encryption key memory from thermal attacks.

Competitive secure battery-backup products do not offer such thermal backup protection.

The DS3600 constantly monitors primary power.

In the event of a power failure, an external battery power source is automatically activated to keep the SRAM, RTC and tamper detection circuitry alive.

Prior to the DS3600, numerous discrete components were required to perform all these same functions.

Using the DS3600 enables the designer to minimise board space used to implement a security solution.

The first commercial magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device is now in volume production and available from Freescale Semiconductor.
The first commercial magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) device is now in volume production and available from Freescale Semiconductor. Freescale's 4Mbit MRAM product is a fast, nonvolatile memory with unlimited endurance - a combination of characteristics not available in any other individual semiconductor memory product. The device is built on a foundation of technology protected by more than 100 Freescale patents, including togglebit switching.

'With the commercialisation of MRAM, Freescale is the first to market with a technology of tremendous possibilities and profound implications', said Bob Merritt, Semico Research.

'Competition to become the first company to market MRAM technology was fierce'.

'This is a significant achievement that certainly confirms the dedication of Freescale's engineering team'.

MRAM uses magnetic materials combined with conventional silicon circuitry to deliver the speed of SRAM with the nonvolatility of Flash in a single, high endurance device.

Freescale's successful commercialisation of this technology could hasten new classes of electronic products offering dramatic advances in size, cost, power consumption and system performance.

'The commercial launch of the industry's first MRAM product is a major milestone made possible by the pioneering research of Freescale technologists'.

'It underscores our commitment to deliver breakthrough technology to our customers to address real-world challenges', said Sumit Sadana, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, and Chief Technology Officer, Freescale.

'The unique capabilities of MRAM technology have numerous exciting applications in our target markets'.

Freescale's first commercial MRAM product, called the MR2A16A, is appropriate for a variety of commercial applications such as networking, security, data storage, gaming and printers.

The part is engineered to be a reliable, economical, single-component replacement for battery-backed SRAM units.

The device also could be used in cache buffers, configuration storage memories and other applications that require the speed, endurance and nonvolatility of MRAM.

The MR2A16A is a commercial temperature range, 3.3V device featuring 35ns read and write cycle times.

It is an asynchronous memory organised as 256K x 16bit.

An industry standard SRAM pinout arrangement allows for system design flexibility without bus contention.

The device is housed in a 400mil TSOP type-II RoHS package.

It is manufactured at Freescale's 200mm Chandler Fab in Arizona.

The MR2A16A MRAM is available now from Freescale and selected distributors.

2Gbyte capacity miniSD and MMCmobile Flash memory cards support the growing storage demands of feature-rich mobile phones.
Kingston Technology, the world's leading memory manufacturer, has announced the launch of its new 2Gbyte capacity miniSD and MMCmobile Flash memory cards to support the growing storage demands of feature-rich mobile phones. The new mobile memory cards are immediately available in 2Gbyte capacities. Jim Selby, Product Marketing Manager EMEA, Kingston Technology comments: 'As consumers become more sophisticated in their use of the many features available on new multi-functional mobile handsets, the need for higher capacity Flash memory increases in order to allow end-users to maximize the phones full capabilities'.

Selby continues: 'Our research of the emerging global mobile market indicates a growing demand for high capacity cards that enable users to store ever increasing amounts of data, music, photos and videos'.

'For example, a 2Gbyte memory card can hold up to 1100 photos, depending on a device's megapixel resolution and compression'.

In addition, many vertical markets use expansion memory in the deployment of specific business applications on mobile devices.

High capacity memory cards can offer greater functionality and efficiency for logistical tasks, such as order tracking or inventory management.

In order to meet the needs of this growing market and offer greater flexibility to end users, Kingston Technology has introduced 2Gbyte versions of both its MMCmobile and miniSD cards, with a recommended retail price of GBP 47 (excluding VAT).

All cards carry a lifetime warranty, 24/7 technical support and also comply with the SDA and MMCA specification standards, respectively.

New solid tantalum capacitors incorporate an internal thin-film fuse delivering safety, consistency, reliability, compactness and significantly lower ESR than other commercially available devices.
New TBW solid tantalum capacitors from AVX incorporate an internal thin film fuse delivering safety, consistency, reliability, compactness and significantly lower ESR than other commercially available fused solid tantalum devices. Because of their inherent reliability, tantalum capacitors are increasingly specified for use in harsh operating conditions. However, in such applications, operating guidelines may be exceeded and devices may fail.

For example, if excessive transients are prevalent there is a possibility that the device may overheat and even burn.

This is exacerbated at high voltages where there is sufficient energy to overcome the natural self-healing properties of tantalum devices.

The new TBW fused solid state capacitors eliminate this possibility.

More, many applications require low ESR and have high current demands.

Any fuse has a resistance so, when coupled with the natural ESR of the capacitor, ESR levels for the combined part will exceed that of stand alone capacitors.

The fuse resistance of AVX's TBW series devices is typically half that of conventional fuses.

With a capacitance range between 4.7 and 47uF and a rated voltage up to 50V, TBW capacitors have an operating temperature range of between -55 and +125C.

Devices also comply with the low impedance requirement of MIL-PRF-55365 Weibull grading.

The CGH/CMH Series of high-power resistors use IRC's proprietary thick film MetalGlaze resistive element to provide ideal stability, precision and high voltage characteristics.
Providing design engineers with a precision high voltage power resistor capable of measurement and control functions in high voltage power electronics applications, TT electronics IRC Wirewound and Film Technologies Division has developed a rugged thick film resistor with voltage ratings up to 20kV. Designated the CGH/CMH Series, the resistors use IRC's proprietary thick film MetalGlaze resistive element which provides ideal stability, precision and high voltage characteristics for a wide range of high power applications. According to David Winkler, Product Manager at IRC's Wirewound and Film Technologies Division, the CGH Series resistors are ideal for use in voltage divider circuits in high voltage power supplies.

'The resistors exhibit a low VCR (voltage coefficient of resistance), giving them excellent stability to provide accurate voltage measurements', said Winkler.

'And precision can be further enhanced by ordering the resistors as matched pairs to provide divider accuracy down to +/-0.1%'.

The CGH Series can also be used as a high voltage bleeder resistor to safely discharge voltage in a power supply.

Additional applications for the CGH Series high voltage resistors include: medical and laboratory applications, such X-ray machines, CAT scans and particle detectors and accelerators; military devices, such as radar power supply and night vision image intensifiers; digital transmission in broadcasting; and industrial applications, including laser controllers, vacuum processing, and electron-beam welding, evaporation and deposition.

The CGH Series resistors have power ratings from 250mW to 5W, and are available in resistance values ranging from 100kohm to 2000Mohm at tolerances down to +/-0.5%; with TCRs down to +/-50ppm/C.

Voltage rating ranges from 750V to 20kV.

IRC will also produce devices outside these specifications to meet customer requirements.

The high reliability version, designated the CMH Series, is military approved to MIL-R-49462 (type RHV) for all values from 0.25 to 5W.

The CGH Series resistors are constructed by applying IRC's proprietary MetalGlaze thick film resistive material to a high alumina ceramic core and fired at 1000C, giving the resistor its inherent ruggedness under extreme environmental conditions.

After precision laser trimming, the resistors are epoxy-encapsulated.

Typical pricing for the CGH Series resistors ranges from $1.25 to $4.00, depending on wattage, in quantities of 10,000.

MWR Series microwave chip resistors are ideal for high frequency circuits in military/aerospace, computer, medical and networking equipment.
Providing design engineers with a rugged resistive device specifically designed for transmission line termination at high frequencies, TT electronics IRC Advanced Film Division has developed a microwave/RF termination resistor rated for operation at frequencies up to 40GHz. Designated the MWR Series, the microwave chip resistor is constructed using IRC's proprietary TaNFilm self passivating thin film resistive element, providing an ultra stable corrosion-resistant device suitable for use in harsh environments. 'Because the MWR Series chip resistors are specifically characterised for high frequency performance, they provide superior line termination performance in comparison to generic 'off-the-shelf' chip resistors', said Jerry Seams, Applications Engineering Manager for IRC's Advanced Film Division.

The planar ceramic flip chip package design keeps the resistive element in the same plane as the circuit, Seams continued, keeping parasitic inductance and capacitance to a minimum.

Available with solderable or bondable terminations, the chips are suitable for solder attachment as discrete chips, as well as in chip-and-wire or ribbon-attached hybrid circuits.

The devices also feature optional back side gold metallisation.

The MWR Series microwave chip resistors are ideal for high frequency circuits in military/aerospace, computer, medical and networking equipment.

Typical applications include wired and wireless telecommunications, radar systems, and high frequency hybrid circuits.

The MWR Series microwave chip resistors feature resistance values of 50 and 75ohm with tolerances down to +/-1%.

The chips have absolute TCRs to +/-25ppm/C, noise characteristics of less than -20dB, and stray distributed capacitance of less than 0.05pF.

Power rating for the chip resistors is 250mW at 40C and 125mW at 70C, with a maximum operating voltage of 50V.

Operating temperature range is from -55 to +100C.

IRC will also produce devices outside these specifications to meet customer requirements.

In addition, IRC has the capability to test MWR Series resistors to the stringent specifications of MIL-PRF-55342.