Capacitor Array
Capacitor Array (IPC)
BENEFITS OF USING CAPACITOR
ARRAYS
AVX capacitor arrays offer designers the opportunity to
lower placement costs, increase assembly line output
through lower component count per board and to reduce
real estate requirements.
For high volume users of cap arrays using the very latest
placement equipment capable of placing 10 components per
second, the increase in throughput can be very significant and
can have the overall effect of reducing the number of place-
ment machines required to mount components:
Reduced Costs
Placement costs are greatly reduced by effectively placing
one device instead of four or two. This results in increased
throughput and translates into savings on machine time.
Inventory levels are lowered and further savings are made
on solder materials, etc.
If 120 million 2-element arrays or 40 million 4-element arrays
were placed in a year, the requirement for placement
equipment would be reduced by one machine.
During a 20Hr operational day a machine places 720K
components. Over a working year of 167 days the machine
can place approximately 120 million. If 2-element arrays are
mounted instead of discrete components, then the number
of placements is reduced by a factor of two and in the
scenario where 120 million 2-element arrays are placed there
is a saving of one pick and place machine.
Space Saving
Space savings can be quite dramatic when compared to
the use of discrete chip capacitors. As an example, the
0508 4-element array offers a space reduction of >40% vs.
4 x 0402 discrete capacitors and of >70% vs. 4 x 0603
discrete capacitors. (This calculation is dependent on the
spacing of the discrete components.)
Smaller volume users can also benefit from replacing
discrete components with arrays. The total number of place-
ments is reduced thus creating spare capacity on placement
machines. This in turn generates the opportunity to increase
overall production output without further investment in new
equipment.
Increased Throughput
Assuming that there are 220 passive components placed in a
mobile phone:
A reduction in the passive count to 200 (by replacing
discrete components with arrays) results in an increase in
throughput of approximately 9%.
A reduction of 40 placements increases throughput by 18%.
W2A (0508) Capacitor Arrays
4 pcs 0402 Capacitors
=
1 pc 0508 Array
1.88
(0.074)
1.4
1.0
(0.055) (0.039)
5.0 (0.197)
AREA = 7.0mm (0.276 in )
2.1 (0.083)
AREA = 3.95mm (0.156 in )
2
2
2
2
The 0508 4-element capacitor array gives a PCB space saving of over 40%
vs four 0402 discretes and over 70% vs four 0603 discrete capacitors.
W3A (0612) Capacitor Arrays
4 pcs 0603 Capacitors
=
1 pc 0612 Array
2.0
(0.079)
2.3
(0.091)
1.5
(0.059)
6.0 (0.236)
AREA = 13.8mm (0.543 in )
3.2 (0.126)
AREA = 6.4mm (0.252 in )
2
2
2
2
The 0612 4-element capacitor array gives a PCB space saving of over 50%
vs four 0603 discretes and over 70% vs four 0805 discrete capacitors.
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