Passive Component Supplier
Passive components are the building blocks of circuits and without them electronic devices wouldn’t work.
Passives are in demand right now and the supply chain is in a feast-or-famine mode.
Raw material prices are decreasing significantly. The cost of tantalum, ruthenium, copper and silver—the termination metals consumed in specialty MLCC production—are all down consecutively since 2012. Paumanok Publications tracks these pricing trends through the Passive Component Raw Material Index.
Resistors
Resistors are the most basic passive electronic components. They consume and change the electric current that flows through a circuit. They can be rated by how much power they are capable of dissipating without overheating and sustaining damage. This is normally expressed in watts.
A resistor has a fixed resistance value and can be made from a variety of materials. Carbon comp, ceramic, and carbon film types are the most common. Resistors are also available with a range of tolerances from very high to low, often with several families to cover each range.
Unlike active components, such as transistors, capacitors and inductors, which store energy in electrical or magnetic fields, passive electronic components such as resistors, thermistors and gyroscopes dissipate their energy into heat. This dissipation makes them very sensitive to temperature. A thermistor is unique among passive components in this respect, as it can change resistance with temperature, making it useful in electronic designs where the component must be protected against excessive temperature increase.
The global market for passive electronic components is very competitive. Top specialised suppliers can achieve close to 25% EBIT, while others struggle with negligible profits. The most successful players are able to produce products with a unique advantage that differentiates them from the competition. They offer one-stop-shop convenience and a wide range of product specifications. Walsin Technology, for example, offers a comprehensive portfolio of MLCC, thick and thin film chip resistors, inductors, circuit modules, and other components.
Capacitors
Capacitors are electrostatic devices that store electric energy between two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. They are important in circuits that need to absorb, dissipate or store energy, but cannot amplify or generate electrical signals. Capacitors are also a fundamental component in electronic devices that require memory backup or power conditioning.
While the capacitor’s exact invention is debated, records point to a German scientist named Ewald Georg von Kleist inventing it in November 1745, a few months before a Dutch professor at the University of Leyden named Pieter van Musschenbroek developed a very similar device known as the “Leyden jar.” Both inventors received credit for their work, and their patents eventually led to the capacitors we now use in every aspect of our electronics.
Unlike inductors, capacitors can be either small or large. The larger the capacitor, the higher its capacitance and ability to retain charge. Capacitors are rated for a maximum voltage Passive Component Supplier they can hold, and exceeding that limit will destroy the capacitor.
Passive Component Suppliers have to be able to produce their products in a wide variety of configurations and sizes to meet their customers’ needs. Production techniques include stacking and winding of materials, pressing or screen-printing of materials, and a mix of radial, axial or multichip arrays and networks. These manufacturing methods also involve different levels of skill and complexity.
Inductors
Inductors slow down current surges or spikes by temporarily storing energy in an electro-magnetic field and then releasing it into the circuit. The effect is much like a flywheel on a bicycle that offers resistance to every change in the flow of energy.
Inductors are used in a wide range of applications and are gaining popularity as more industries digitalise and demand for greater connectivity grows. Inductors can be found in automotive electronics, digital consumer products, smart grids and even healthcare equipment.
Many specialised passive components companies serve a myriad of industries through various business models, as a result of past acquisitions or a strategy to push their components into as many applications as possible. While this provides the opportunity to diversify revenue streams, it can also create challenges in terms of deriving economies of scope and scale from diverse models and focus areas.
As a result, a number of suppliers are experiencing pressures on profitability. In order to improve their performance, these manufacturers are focusing on better understanding and serving their customer base. They are also concentrating on improving efficiency and quality, as well as reducing their environmental impact.
As the industry evolves, we are seeing suppliers becoming more finely tuned to their customers’ needs. The lessons learned from the electronics industry downturn have left manufacturers with a renewed respect for building closer relationships with their customers. This is influencing decisions made by specialised passive component suppliers across their entire organisation – from product development to logistics, pricing and manufacturing.
Gyroscopes
When hearing the word gyroscope, many people imagine gravity-defying toys or gimballed physics lab equipment. However, gyroscopes are much more than just kids’ toys or classroom novelties; they are critical components in all kinds of aerospace, industrial and consumer applications.
The basic concept of a gyroscope is to use an internal mechanism that exploits the phenomenon known as precession. This is the effect that occurs when a spinning object’s center of mass rotates about monolithic microwave integrated circuit its axis of oscillation, independent of any outside forces acting on it. The inner mechanism of a mechanical gyroscope consists of a rotor mounted on two gimbals, which allow the rotor to be positioned in a range of orientations.
As a result, any external torque will cause the rotor to change its position within this range of orientations, but not its angular velocity. This allows the gyroscope to resist changes in direction by using the precession effect, and it is for this reason that gyroscopes are so widely used in several industries ranging from flying planes and rockets navigation systems through space exploration defense systems such as tanks or missile guidance systems all the way down to modern-day devices like smartphones and gaming controllers.
MEMS (microelectronic mechanical systems) gyroscopes have revolutionized the gyroscopic industry because of their small size, high speed, and robustness. However, despite their advances, MEMS gyroscopes still have some drawbacks such as noise and drift. Moreover, MEMS gyroscopes need to be tuned for optimal performance by matching the resonant frequencies oy and oz.
