source: SBWire article
Albany, NY — (SBWIRE) — 01/11/2017 — Ceramic capacitors are fixed value capacitors wherein the ceramic material acts as the dielectric. A type of ceramic capacitors is the multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) that consists of alternate layers of ceramic and metal for making a multi-layer chip. One of the key trends influencing the multi-layer ceramic capacitors market is the miniaturization of electronic devices. The growing popularity of new designs of MLCCs with higher capacitances, improved bypassing, filtering and decoupling capabilities is positively influencing the growth of the global market.
Multi-layer ceramic capacitors are being increasingly used for EMI suppression and in various applications including AC-AC and DC-DC convertors. Further, the technological improved MLCCs are being used in LED lighting. Ceramic capacitors were initially not preferred by LED designers due to flickering light and acoustic noise but with technological advancements, the key players in the MLCC market are offering multi-layer ceramic capacitors with DC smoothing and acoustic noise reduction of LED applications.LED lighting is gaining popularity globally owing to the increasing need for power conversion, advanced lighting features and efficient lighting, which is in turn directly fueling the growth of the global multi-layer ceramic capacitors market.
Over the past decade, the revenue generation of multi-layer ceramic capacitors has surpassed the other primary capacitor dielectrics owing to the rapid technological breakthroughs in electrostatic capacitors. One of the major factors that is driving the growth of the multi-layer ceramic capacitors market is the increasing demand of these capacitors in the electronics market. This increasing demand can be attributed to the continuous increase in the deployment of high specification gadgets. Growing demand for tablets and smartphones coupled with the cost efficiency associated with MLCCs is strongly boosting the growth of the global market. Further, increasing popularity of smart televisions is also expected to strongly augment the growth of the market in the coming years as MLCCs are being increasingly integrated in the modern LCD and LED televisions. However, ceramic has some inherent drawbacks and is highly prone to physical damage such as getting cracked and this is posing to be a challenge for the market growth. The longevity of multi-layer ceramic capacitors can shorten, unless they are handled with utmost care.
The global multi-layer ceramic capacitor market can be segmented on the basis of rated voltage into 4 volts, 16 volts, 25 volts,, 50 volts, 100 volts and above 100 volts. The rated voltage of MLCCs can vary between 4 volts to 10 kilovolts. On the basis of application, the global market can be bifurcated into consumer electronics and others. Some of key applications of multi-layer ceramic capacitors in consumer electronics include tablets, mobile phones, notebooks, PCs, video cameras, DVDs and hard discs among others. However the demand for MLCCs is not restricted to only consumer electronics and is also being observed in medical facilities, data processing, telecommunications, industrial and military applications that require high reliability. In addition, the market can be geographically classified broadly into four regions, namely: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World. The MLCC market is witnessing steady growth in Asia Pacific owing to the adoption of improved technology and development initiatives that are driving production activities in this region. The major countries contributing to the growth of the market include China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
The major players in the multi-layer ceramic capacitor market include Murata Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (Japan), Vishay Intertechnology (U.S.), Johanson Dielectrics (U.S.), TDK Corp (Japan), KEMET (U.S.), Yageo Corp (Taiwan), Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd. (Japan), Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Ltd. (South Korea), AFM Microelectronics Inc. (U.S.), Cornell Dubilier Electronics (U.S.), AVX Corporation (U.S.) and Future Electronics (Canada). among others.
featured image source: Vishay
