KEMET Corporation

Last updated
KEMET Corporation
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Electronics
Founded1919
Headquarters
Products Capacitors & Electronic Components
Parent Yageo Corporation
Website www.kemet.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

KEMET Corporation, a subsidiary of Yageo Corporation (TAIEX: 2327), manufactures a broad selection of capacitor technologies such as tantalum, aluminum, multilayer ceramic, film, paper, polymer electrolytic, and supercapacitors. KEMET also manufacturers a variety of other passive electronic components, such as AC line filters, EMI cores and filters, flex suppressors, electro-mechanical devices (relays), metal composite inductors, ferrite products, sensors and transformers/magnetics. The product line consists of nearly 5 million distinct part configurations distinguished by various attributes, such as dielectric (or insulating) material, configuration, encapsulation, capacitance (at various tolerances), voltage, performance characteristics, and packaging.

Contents

History

In 1919, KEMET Laboratories was founded by Union Carbide Corporation to capitalize on its purchase of Cooper Research Company of Cleveland, Ohio. Cooper had developed an alloy that could be used in the manufacture of vacuum tube components. The name "KEMET" is derived from the words "chemical" and "metallurgy." [1]

In 1958, KEMET changed its market focus to the tantalum capacitor. In 1969, the company entered the market of ceramic capacitors. [1]

In 1990, KEMET Electronics Corporation was acquired from Union Carbide and after two years, the company went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KEM. This ended all ties with Union Carbide. [1]

KEMET acquired the tantalum business unit of EPCOS AG in 2007, Evox Rifa Group Oyj and Arcotronics Italia S.p.A. in 2008, Cornell Dubilier Foil, LLC and Niotan Incorporated in 2012. [1]

In 2012, the company completed the acquisition of Cornell Dubilier Foil, LLC and Niotan Incorporated. [2]

In 2017 the company announced the closing of a deal to purchase a controlling share of NEC Tokin. After the purchase by KEMET concludes on April 10, 2017, NEC Tokin will be renamed "TOKIN Corporation". [3]

On November 11, 2019, it was announced that KEMET would be acquired by Yageo of Taiwan. [4] On June 15, 2020, KEMET became a fully owned subsidiary of Yageo.

Products and services

KEMET Electronics Corporation manufacturers capacitors and other components for computing, telecommunications, medical, aerospace, defense, and automotive markets.

Research and development

In January 2014, KEMET introduced the High Voltage-High Temperature (HV-HT) Series in C0G Dielectric, improving the efficiency over competitive high temperature (200 degree) precious metal electrode (PME) and base metal electrode (BME) ceramic capacitor devices. [5] Oct. 2013 KEMET announced the opening of the new aluminum Electrolytic Innovation Center (EIC) in Weymouth, U.K. Products made from this new center include 20 g High Vibration Screw Terminal capacitors and a Low Inductance product line under Film and Electrolytic Business. [6] In fiscal year 2015, KEMET had 33 PhD scientists, of which 17 were focused on technology, and 501 engineers (about one half of which are in manufacturing and the other half in R&D). KEMET was granted a record number of 20 U.S. patents in fiscal year 2015.

Awards

In June 2013, KEMET won the Supplier Excellence Award for the Americas, Asia and Europe by TTI. [7] In 2015, KEMET received the Global Operations Excellence Award from TTI. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electrolytic capacitor</span> Type of capacitor

An electrolytic capacitor is a polarized capacitor whose anode or positive plate is made of a metal that forms an insulating oxide layer through anodization. This oxide layer acts as the dielectric of the capacitor. A solid, liquid, or gel electrolyte covers the surface of this oxide layer, serving as the cathode or negative plate of the capacitor. Because of their very thin dielectric oxide layer and enlarged anode surface, electrolytic capacitors have a much higher capacitance-voltage (CV) product per unit volume than ceramic capacitors or film capacitors, and so can have large capacitance values. There are three families of electrolytic capacitor: aluminium electrolytic capacitors, tantalum electrolytic capacitors, and niobium electrolytic capacitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capacitor types</span> Manufacturing styles of an electronic device

Capacitors are manufactured in many styles, forms, dimensions, and from a large variety of materials. They all contain at least two electrical conductors, called plates, separated by an insulating layer (dielectric). Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capacitor</span> Passive two-terminal electronic component that stores electrical energy in an electric field

In electrical engineering, a capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. The capacitor was originally known as the condenser, a term still encountered in a few compound names, such as the condenser microphone. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.

FuelPositive Corporation is a company based in Cedar Park, Texas, United States that claims to have developed a solid state polymer capacitor for electricity storage. The company claims the device stores more energy than lithium-ion batteries at a lower cost than lead-acid batteries used in gasoline-powered cars. Such a device would revolutionize the electric car industry. Many experts believe these claims are not realistic and EEStor has yet to publicly demonstrate these claims. The corporate slogan is "Energy Everywhere".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceramic capacitor</span> Fixed-value capacitor using ceramic

A ceramic capacitor is a fixed-value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric. It is constructed of two or more alternating layers of ceramic and a metal layer acting as the electrodes. The composition of the ceramic material defines the electrical behavior and therefore applications. Ceramic capacitors are divided into two application classes:

Yageo Corporation(國巨公司) is a Taiwanese Taiwan-based electronic component manufacturing company, founded in 1977 by Pierre Chen. The company specializes in passive devices — resistors, capacitors and inductors. As of January 2020 ,they were the third largest passive component manufacturer in the world.

The programmable metallization cell, or PMC, is a non-volatile computer memory developed at Arizona State University. PMC, a technology developed to replace the widely used flash memory, providing a combination of longer lifetimes, lower power, and better memory density. Infineon Technologies, who licensed the technology in 2004, refers to it as conductive-bridging RAM, or CBRAM. CBRAM became a registered trademark of Adesto Technologies in 2011. NEC has a variant called "Nanobridge" and Sony calls their version "electrolytic memory".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver mica capacitor</span>

Silver mica capacitors are high precision, stable and reliable capacitors. They are available in small values, and are mostly used at high frequencies and in cases where low losses and low capacitor change over time is desired.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Applications of capacitors</span> Uses of capacitors in daily life

Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems. They are so ubiquitous that it is rare that an electrical product does not include at least one for some purpose. Capacitors allow only AC signals to pass when they are charged blocking DC signals. The main components of filters are capacitors. Capacitors have the ability to connect one circuit segment to another. Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices to represent binary information as bits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tantalum capacitor</span> Type of electrolytic capacitor

A tantalum electrolytic capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor, a passive component of electronic circuits. It consists of a pellet of porous tantalum metal as an anode, covered by an insulating oxide layer that forms the dielectric, surrounded by liquid or solid electrolyte as a cathode. Because of its very thin and relatively high permittivity dielectric layer, the tantalum capacitor distinguishes itself from other conventional and electrolytic capacitors in having high capacitance per volume and lower weight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Failure of electronic components</span> Ways electronic components fail and prevention measures

Electronic components have a wide range of failure modes. These can be classified in various ways, such as by time or cause. Failures can be caused by excess temperature, excess current or voltage, ionizing radiation, mechanical shock, stress or impact, and many other causes. In semiconductor devices, problems in the device package may cause failures due to contamination, mechanical stress of the device, or open or short circuits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polymer capacitor</span> Solid conductive electrolyte

A polymer capacitor, or more accurately a polymer electrolytic capacitor, is an electrolytic capacitor (e-cap) with a solid conductive polymer electrolyte. There are four different types:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supercapacitor</span> High-capacity electrochemical capacitor

A supercapacitor (SC), also called an ultracapacitor, is a high-capacity capacitor, with a capacitance value much higher than solid-state capacitors but with lower voltage limits. It bridges the gap between electrolytic capacitors and rechargeable batteries. It typically stores 10 to 100 times more energy per unit volume or mass than electrolytic capacitors, can accept and deliver charge much faster than batteries, and tolerates many more charge and discharge cycles than rechargeable batteries.

Dielectric absorption is the name given to the effect by which a capacitor, that has been charged for a long time, discharges only incompletely when briefly discharged. Although an ideal capacitor would remain at zero volts after being discharged, real capacitors will develop a small voltage from time-delayed dipole discharging, a phenomenon that is also called dielectric relaxation, "soakage", or "battery action". For some dielectrics, such as many polymer films, the resulting voltage may be less than 1–2% of the original voltage, but it can be as much as 15% for electrolytic capacitors. The voltage at the terminals generated by the dielectric absorption may possibly cause problems in the function of an electronic circuit or can be a safety risk to personnel. In order to prevent shocks, most very large capacitors are shipped with shorting wires that need to be removed before they are used and/or permanently connected bleeder resistors. When disconnected at one or both ends, DC high-voltage cables can also "recharge themselves" to dangerous voltages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Film capacitor</span> Electrical capacitor with an insulating plastic film as the dielectric

Film capacitors, plastic film capacitors, film dielectric capacitors, or polymer film capacitors, generically called film caps as well as power film capacitors, are electrical capacitors with an insulating plastic film as the dielectric, sometimes combined with paper as carrier of the electrodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water capacitor</span>

A water capacitor is a device that uses water as its dielectric insulating medium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SAL electrolytic capacitor</span> Capacitor with high capacitance in a small package

SAL electrolytic capacitors are a form of capacitor developed for high capacitance in a small package, with a long and robust service life. They are aluminum electrolytic capacitors with anodic oxidized aluminum oxide as dielectric and with the semiconducting solid manganese dioxide as electrolyte. They are made of etched and formed aluminum anodes, which are folded for the dipped pearl types or wound into a roll for the axial style. The solid manganese dioxide electrolyte is formed onto this roll in a pyrolytic process, similar to that for solid tantalum capacitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aluminum electrolytic capacitor</span> Type of capacitor

Aluminum electrolytic capacitors are (usually) polarized electrolytic capacitors whose anode electrode (+) is made of a pure aluminum foil with an etched surface. The aluminum forms a very thin insulating layer of aluminum oxide by anodization that acts as the dielectric of the capacitor. A non-solid electrolyte covers the rough surface of the oxide layer, serving in principle as the second electrode (cathode) (-) of the capacitor. A second aluminum foil called "cathode foil" contacts the electrolyte and serves as the electrical connection to the negative terminal of the capacitor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niobium capacitor</span> Electrolytic capacitor

A niobium electrolytic capacitor is an electrolytic capacitor whose anode (+) is made of passivated niobium metal or niobium monoxide, on which an insulating niobium pentoxide layer acts as a dielectric. A solid electrolyte on the surface of the oxide layer serves as the capacitor's cathode (−).

TOKIN Corporation is a Japanese electrical and electronic industrial and automotive parts manufacturing company. Since April 2017 it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of KEMET Corporation. Previously it was named NEC TOKIN and was part of the NEC Group. It is headquartered in Shiroishi, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "History of KEMET". KEMET. Archived from the original on September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 10, 2017.
  2. "Business Summary".
  3. "KEMET Newsroom". KEMET Corporation (Press release). Archived from the original on 2017-02-11. Retrieved 2017-02-28.
  4. "Yageo to Acquire KEMET for US$27.20 Per Share in Cash". Global Newswire (Press release). 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  5. "KEMET Introduces New Ceramic High Voltage-High Temperature Capacitors". PR Newswire (Press release). 2014-01-28.
  6. Bowers, Nat (2013-10-09). "KEMET opens new UK Electrolytic Innovation Centre" (Press release). Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
  7. "KEMET Receives Three Supplier Excellence Awards from TTI". PR Newswire (Press release). 2013-06-04.
  8. "KEMET Receives Global Operations Excellence Award from TTI". PR Newswire (Press release). 2015-06-01.