KEMET Introduces 'Soft Termination' to Reduce MLCC Cracking

GREENVILLE, South Carolina, November 13 /PRNewswire/ --

- Flexibility Helps Move Flex Cracks into Safe Zone

Always looking toward the future for capacitance solutions, KEMET Corporation (NYSE: KEM) today announces a new MLCC capacitor that utilizes a soft termination to help decrease the chances of board flex cracking. This innovative capacitor will be available first quarter 2007.

MLCC cracking due to board assembly and handling has been an industry-wide issue for some time. Thanks to KEMET's innovation, these capacitors will be able to withstand flexing: Soft termination adds pliability to the end termination, shifting any flex crack that may occur into the termination area -- and away from active layers. This can reduce the risk of capacitor failure due to an electrical short.

"KEMET now offers a complete portfolio of products designed to mitigate the effects of board-induced flex cracks," says John Prymak, Applications Manager. "This is especially important on power or battery lines where short-circuit failures cannot be tolerated."

In addition to soft termination on the MLCCs, KEMET is currently developing the following products to further diminish cracking instances:

- "Clip-on Lead Frame" MLCCs, which will not crack from any board flexing: This is an industry first - "Extended Termination" MLCCs; these will be designed to simultaneously improve flex robustness while providing lower inductance

Prymak went on to say, "By choosing the correct KEMET product, designers now have the option to find the capacitor that best meets their needs. Flex crack may be controlled to change the short-circuit failure to a benign open-circuit failure, or the occurrence of the crack may be moved to a higher flex level, or it may be eliminated altogether."

KEMET's release of these products -- in addition to their current offerings, such as the Open-Mode MLCC -- allows designers a wider variety of choices and solutions for all available capacitance values. The chart below showcases the full line of KEMET capacitors that address flex-cracking issues.

Samples are now available.

Moves Out Point of Failure Eliminates During Board Catastrophic Eliminates Solution Type Status Flex Failure Mode Flex Cracks Soft Samples X Termination MLCC Available Now Extended Termination MLCC Under X Development Open Mode MLCC Available X Now Floating Electrode MLCC Available X Now Ta SMD Ta & AO Available X Now Leaded Ta & MLCC Available X Now Clip-on Lead Frame MLCC Samples X Available Now

KEMET Corporation provides industry-leading, high-performance capacitance solutions, including the world's most complete line of surface-mount capacitor technologies across tantalum, ceramic and solid aluminum dielectrics -- along with the world's best quality, delivery and service. KEMET's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol KEM. KEMET is an ISO 9001:2000 and ISO/TS 16949:2002 certified company.

Contact: Dean W. Dimke Director of Corporate and Marketing Communication deandimke@kemet.com +1-864-228-4448 Bill Sloka Technical Product Consultant billsloka@kemet.com +1-864-228-4052

Web site: http://www.kemet.com