If your bill of materials includes aluminum electrolytic capacitors, you may have already noticed longer lead times and rising prices. In 2026, the market has faced tighter supply conditions due to multiple factors, including raw material costs and surging demand from AI servers and EV infrastructure.
A Metal Oxide Varistor is a voltage-dependent, nonlinear resistive device. It is primarily made from zinc oxide (ZnO) grains and small amounts of other metal oxide additives, sintered at high temperatures. Its core electrical characteristics are:
The MLCC sector is widely seen as a cyclical growth industry, with prices swinging sharply during upswings. Looking back at the last two market cycles, shifts in supply were the main driving force.
In applications such as smart meter backup and server power ride-through, the batch-to-batch consistency of supercapacitors often determines the operating life and reliability of the entire module.
Operating the capacitor at a voltage significantly lower than its rated voltage — typically 50% or less.
Metal Oxide Varistor (MOV) is widely used for surge protection in electronic products. One key parameter we often ignore is Typical Capacitance (reference) @1KHz. For sales engineers and electronic buyers, knowing this value well helps select correct MOV models for different applications, especially for meters like electricity meters, water meters and energy meters.
Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors (MLCC) use different dielectric materials defined by EIA RS-198 and adopted by top brands (Murata, Samsung, Yageo, Vishay). Each material differs in temperature stability, tolerance, voltage rating, aging, and capacitance drift. Choosing the right dielectric is critical for outdoor access control, power supplies, inverters, industrial controls, and consumer electronics.
Whether you are designing a POL module, an industrial power supply, or a communication system, the TFS series helps keep your capacitor cooler and your product running longer.
Most smart meters don't fail in the lab. They fail in the field — under direct sunlight, in coastal humidity, or after years of tropical rain. When they do, the root cause is often something small: an X2 capacitor that drifted out of spec, a capacitive power supply that couldn't hold regulation, or an EMI filter that lost its suppression capability.
Keep the actual operating voltage of a tantalum capacitor significantly below its rated voltage.Example: Apply only 5V to a 10V capacitor. This isn't waste — it's the core technique for ensuring long-term reliability.
Looking for an AVX TAJ replacement? Discover reliable alternatives with lower cost, shorter lead time, and proven industrial quality.
When customers choose an aluminum electrolytic capacitor, lifetime is one of the most important points. This is especially true for electric meters, smart meters, power modules, industrial controllers, and other products that are expected to work for many years without maintenance.
The top choice for high-performance DC-DC designs, yet engineers love and hate it for two critical weaknesses.
An SMD aluminum capacitor works the same way – when voltage is applied, it stores electric charge (electrons). When the circuit needs energy, it quickly squeezes the water out (discharging). This is its most basic energy storage function.
Tantalum capacitors are widely used in power supplies, smart meters, industrial control systems, and other high-reliability applications due to their stable electrical performance and high capacitance in compact size.