[Courtesy of Samsung Electro-Mechanics]
SEOUL -- Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic component producer in South Korea, has developed the world's smallest power inductor. The company plans to supply its product to global mobile companies.
A power inductor maintains consistency in an electrical circuit. The component can be used in a magnetic field created by a tightly wound coil to receive or store energy, reduce signal loss in system design and filter electromagnetic interference noise.
Samsung Electro-Mechanics said its new product is 0.8mm wide, 0.4mm long and 0.65mm thick. "We expect ultra-small power inductors to grow into a second MLCC," said Samsung Electro-Mechanics' research center head Hur Kang-heon.
A multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) temporarily charges and discharges electricity. It is the most broadly available chip type of capacitor with its importance growing with the development of electronic devices and self-driving cars.
The performance of a power inductor is determined by magnetic particles and the number of coils that can be wrapped inside. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said that it has reduced the size of its power inductor while improving power losses. Power inductors are usually processed on a separate basis, but the company said its product was made on a substrate basis to increase productivity and make it thinner.