KCM Series Metal Terminal Capacitors

Murata's KCM series of chip monolithic ceramic capacitors feature metal terminations and are designed to be used in automotive electronic devices.

In the automotive market, the automakers, stimulated by the increasing interest focused in recent years on tackling global environmental problems and energy problems, have been pushing hard to develop hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV) and promote their practical use.

When chip monolithic ceramic capacitors (MLCC), especially large ones, are used in the automotive electronic devices installed on these HEVs and EVs, they are easily affected by the stress of the expansion and contraction of the substrates generated by sharp temperature changes, and under conditions where they will be exposed to thermal shock occurring over long periods of time, measures to deal with solder cracks are an absolute necessity. Similarly, measures to deal with cracks in the capacitor elements that form as a result of vibration and mechanical impact must also be taken, and the capacitors are required to exhibit a higher level of reliability than when they are used in general-purpose products. Providing the capacitors with metal terminations that have an elastic action reduces the impact to which the capacitor elements are subjected.