Passive Components Challenge Miniaturization Limits

In recent years, as the size of the mobile terminal device becomes thinner and lighter, a smaller and thinner passive device module is also needed to save space. Miniaturization and thinning have become irresistible trends for passive components. Domestic and foreign manufacturers take the advantage of smaller dimensions as R&D directions, and have stepped up innovations in technology and materials.

As a leader in the passive component industry, Murata has pioneered the development of the world's smallest passive component 008004. In fact, Murata showed 008004, a 0.25mm*0.125mm monolithic ceramic capacitor, at the 2012 Hi-Tech Fair, and exhibited the same size of ferrite at the 2013 Hi-Tech Fair. Magnetic beads and thin film inductors. It is reported that this size is 75% smaller than mainstream mainstream capacitor 0201 used in high-end mobile phones. Murata Electronics Trading (Shenzhen) Trading Co., Ltd. Senior Capacitance Engineer Huang Guofa told reporters that the 008004-size multilayer ceramic capacitors were sampled in March this year and are expected to be produced in mid-year. It is worth mentioning that the current 0201 size has not yet become the mainstream, 01005 is only a niche high-end market, pushing the 008004 size of the product does not seem so urgent, and does not seem to be very necessary. In this regard, Huang Guozhang stated that “it is not unnecessary to push 008004 size products, it may be adopted by the market in two or three years, and may become mainstream after 5 years. Nowadays, many chip manufacturers, such as mobile phone power amplifier, camera module And so on tend to integrate passive components.” He pointed out that the main issue of the 008004 specification is that the placement machine cannot be attached and the yield control is not good. "Some domestic placement machine manufacturers can't even paste 01005 size products. We are currently working with Fujifilm, Matsushita and other SMT machine manufacturers to overcome the mounting problem."

Taiyo Yuden began to invest in large-capacity MLCC products from an earlier stage. Zhao Peng, the sales representative, said that 008004-sized MLCCs are currently under development. In fact, in addition to Murata, MLCC manufacturers currently offer a minimum product size of 01005.

Yuyang Li Xiaofei said, "Our product advantages are miniaturization, high frequency, and high precision. The currently available MLCC products can be manufactured to a minimum specification of 01005. The products of this specification will be produced in volume in March and April of this year."

In terms of resistance, ROHM has developed the world's smallest patch resistor, which is only 0.2mm*0.1mm in size, but no related products have been mass-produced yet. "The 0.2*0.1mm product has just been developed and has not been mass-produced yet. It has not yet been adopted by the market. In addition, the precision of the chip mounter cannot be as high as this." ROHM Semiconductor (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. Engineer of Discrete Devices Department Chen Zhibo told reporters that the newly developed and already mass-produced patch resistor specification is 03015, which is 0.3*0.15mm. This product is only the size of sand, compared with the previous product volume reduced by 56%, can be applied to the increasingly miniaturized smartphone. It is reported that Roma also consider using this result in medical fields such as hearing aids and endoscopes. However, due to the yield problem of the SMT process, the current market demand for the 03015 chip resistors newly developed and mass-produced by ROHM is not large.

For inductors, the current domestic and foreign manufacturers have already mass-produced and matured the smallest size products, also 01005 specifications. Chen Qiliang said that there are many kinds of inductors and there are many sizes, but the overall trend is to go towards miniaturization. He bluntly stated that the smallest size of the inductor product that Sunlord Electronics currently offers is the 01005 size. Although the product is relatively mature, it has not yet been mass-produced. The key reason is that the market demand is not so great. Chen Qiliang revealed that Sunlord Electronics is currently developing 008004 size inductors, but related products are not so fast-to-market, after all, there is a big difference between making samples and mass production.

From the perspective of the companies surveyed, passive component manufacturers both at home and abroad are striving to develop their own products in a smaller size. The smallest size 008004 monolithic ceramic capacitors and inductors have been unveiled, 0.2*0.1mm in size. The resistance has also been released. However, the minimum passive component size that local companies have developed is still 01005. However, they have in common that these companies are constantly innovating technological processes and materials in order to achieve the goal of miniaturization.

Huang Guofa said bluntly that Murata used thin-layer technology to realize the miniaturization of its components, while Murata's unique thin-layer technology was realized with high-quality ceramic powder and advanced lamination technology. Li Xiaofei said that as the size of passive components is getting smaller and smaller, the precision and process of molds need to be improved. Sunlord Electronics Chen Qiliang also stated that the size of passive components is getting smaller and thinner and thinner, and process control is certainly becoming more and more precise. First, some changes must be made from the design side, and equipment must be updated at the production end, including Process control, etc. In addition, the proportion of materials must be adjusted. Chen Zhibo said that ROHM's newly developed 0.2*0.1mm and 0.3*0.15mm resistors are replaced with new materials and processes. As for what kind of material, he said it was not convenient to disclose it.

Although the direction of development of passive components is miniaturization and thinning, its size will be infinitely small? Will it reach a limit?

According to Li Xiaofei, the trend of miniaturization of passive components will not reach a limit. He said that now more and more types of portable devices, the function of the product is also more and more, but the energy consumption is also increasing, which requires the capacitor to be more and more compact, in order to allow more space.

However, Chen Zhibo said that 0.2 * 0.1mm may be the limit of the resistance products, which is mainly determined by the placement equipment. If the size is smaller, the placement machine may not be affixed. Unless there is a matching and higher-accuracy placement device, a smaller-sized resistance product may come out.

Chen Qiliang also elaborated his point of view from the perspective of inductance. He said that each type of inductor will have a small degree of limit, but only a different limit. For example, he said further, such as winding inductors, its size will not be infinitely small, to 0806 size, may be the range of laminated inductors, it may be replaced by stacked inductors; such as stacked inductors , 01005 is actually very small, even smaller than the hair, and even smaller and may not even see the naked eye, 008004 specifications may have been the limit.