Electronics buyers can expect steady prices and leadtimes for integrated passive devices (IPDs) despite increased manufacturing and materials costs.

Manufacturing costs increased as raw materials prices rose, but component manufacturers are absorbing those costs by becoming more efficient and improving manufacturing yields.

"Pricing has been very stable," says David Valletta, executive vice president, worldwide sales at Vishay Intertechnology in Malvern, Pa. "There have been no increases and not a lot of price pressure to push it downward."

IPD demand is being driven by portable consumer electronics devices such as cell phones, MP3 players and digital cameras. Such devices need to save board space and IPDs combine resistors and capacitors in a small package.

The cost/benefit relationship is key in the decision on whether IPDs are used, says Valletta. The cost for IPDs is typically higher than the equivalent number of discrete devices. However, when space is a real constraint and the OEM measures the total cost including component placement, inventory, and space, then IPDs are often used, he says.

Sales growth for IPDs in 2007 is pegged at about 5–10%, but some suppliers say it will be 15% if second-half demand in especially strong.

A trend to watch with silicon-based IPDs is the move away from chip-scale packaging (CSPs) to dual flat no-lead (DFN) and quad flat no-lead (QFN) packages despite higher parasitic inductance as a result of wire bonding.

DFN-type packaging is being used because of bare die getting damaged and cracking during the manufacturing process, says Ian Doyle, product line manager, ESD protection for Bourns Electronics in Cork, Ireland.

"OEMs still like the idea of integration but bare die exposed on the board is fragile with the potential for damage and cracking which causes board rework," he says.

The Vishay multichannel VEMI EMI filters in four, six and eight channels are housed in a compact LLP leadless package.

A challenge with DFNs is the lack of an industry-standard format. There doesn't seem to be a standard length, width, height or pad dimension, sccording to Doyle.

Silicon-based devices are also being challenged by ceramic technologies including a combination of multilayer ceramic varistors combined with resistors and inductors because they are lower-cost devices.

Doyle estimates that a silicon-based eight-channel filter costs about 10–12¢ while a ceramic-quad array device for the same application runs about 7–8¢ from domestic Chinese suppliers.

Related stories:
Portable consumer devices drive integrated passive devices

Expect lower tag, steady leadtimes for networks