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P-2.5 Tantalum Capacitors Committee

Monday, 3 April 2000
Quality Hotel
Arlington, VA

1 COMMITTEE ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES

1.1 Membership and attendance
The meeting was called-to-order at 4:35 PM by Dave Richardson, who was substituting for absent Chairperson Dave Toomey. Self-introductions were made, attendance taken, and it was shown that a quorum was present.

1.2 Approval of the Agenda
The Agenda was unanimously approved as written.

1.3 Approval of the Minutes
The Minutes were unanimously approved as written.

1.4 Correspondence
No correspondence was received.

2. OLD BUSINESS

2.1 Reports

2.1.1 Report of the U-1 Passive Components Committee (Users Group)
A summary of the EIA/ECA presentation made by Bob Willis was provided. The new "Summit" format for the Parts committee meetings was discussed, as well as the need for more meeting time for certain committees. A new procedure for choosing meeting sites was explained. See clause 4 for the locations of the next three meetings.

2.1.2 DSCC Report of Government Specifications and Standards
Mr. Bernier distributed the latest DSCC report on electrolytic capacitors. See annex A.

2.2 Surface mount tantalum capacitors

2.2.1 Status: Standard (EIA-535BAAC), Low ESR (EIA-535BAAE), and Fused Specifications
PN 4837 has been issued for work on EIA-535BAAC, Specification for standard tantalum chip capacitors. This spec needs to be updated for new ratings. Additionally, the committee voted unanimously to revise the termination width specification (Dimension W1) for case size 201212 from 1.2 +/- 0.1 to 0.9 +/- 0.1. See also 2.2.2 below for new case size naming convention to be adopted in this revision.

ACTION ITEM - Need subcommittee to draft new revision.

PN 4838 has been issued for work on EIA-535BAAE, Specification for low ESR tantalum chip capacitors.

The committee voted unanimously to rescind EIA-535BAAE with no technical comments and to re-issue the correct document. (The wrong draft was used for publication.)

ACTION ITEM- Ms. Reynolds will provide a copy of the correct version that was approved.

PN 4129, Specification for fused tantalum chip capacitors is still open for review.

2.2.2 Discussion of new case sizes, ratings, or products
The committee voted unanimously to adopt a new case size naming convention. The existing 4 digits will continue to identify the nominal Length and Width, in millimeters. The alpha characters previously used to designate Low or High profile will be replaced with 2 additional digits to identify the maximum Height, in millimeters, for all case size codes. The new codes will be hyphenated as LLWW-HH. Note that the actual height dimensions for all case sizes will include a tolerance. (The low profile types were previously specified with only a maximum dimension. Although we will use the maximum height in the naming scheme, the actual case requirements will still require a lower and upper limit.)

ACTION ITEM - This change will be included in the PN4837 revision of EIA-535BAAC per 2.2.1.

2.2.3 Global standardization of tantalum specifications
Mr. Aronson provided copies of some IEC (CECC) specifications.

2.3 High-temperature (³150 °C) applications for molded chip tantalums
Several automotive companies are investigating 150C requirements for tantalum capacitors. Mr. Seamands reported that Visteon would probably have a new 150C tantalum chip capacitor specification within the next 90 days. Until the automotive requirements are more fully defined, the group consensus was that an EIA standard would be premature at this time.

2.4 Hazardous material (Pb-free, etc…) considerations for tantalum chips
This topic again received much discussion. As these issues affect all components, it was suggested that this subject should be covered in the U-1 committee. The group wants a reliable source for complete information, including potential legislative actions in Europe and Asia, as well as North America.

2.5 Tantalum chips with polymer electrolyte systems
There has been no progress on this issue, but the subcommittee plans to have a preliminary draft document for review at the fall meeting. Ms. Reynolds is the chairperson, and members include Mr. Hofmaier, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Galli, and Lucent (?) Others are welcome.

ACTION ITEM--- Initiate draft specification

3. NEW BUSINESS

4. SELECTION OF NEXT MEETINGS
- Fall 2000: 2-4 October 2000, Wyndham Emerald Plaza, San Diego, CA
- Spring 2001: Week of April 2 (or April 23-Alternate) San Antonio, TX (Riverwalk area only)
- Fall 2001: Boston, MA (preferred) or Orlando, FL (alternate) selected by the committee

5 ADJOURNMENT
The Committee moved, seconded, and unanimously agreed to adjourn at 6:15 p.m.

6 ACTION ITEMS
- Work PN 4837 to revise EIA-535BAAC (Standard) to include new case size naming.
- Work PN 4838 to correct and update EIA-535BAAE (Low ESR).
- Draft a preliminary standard for polymer cathode tantalums.

This meeting was conducted in accordance with the EIA legal guidelines and the manual of organization and procedures.

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