SMT inductors comply with military’s failure rating

Article By : EE Times Asia

Level M represents the first level of failure rating for off-the-shelf inductors for high-reliability applications, according to Gowanda.

Gowanda Electronics has developed the off-the-shelf RF surface mount (SMT) inductors, the ER3013, with Established Reliability (ER) rating in response to a market need for surface mount options to the traditional leaded (thru-hole) designs.

Surface mount configurations lend themselves to higher-efficiency “pick and place” circuit board assembly processes versus the more laborious, multi-step thru-hole assembly methods. Gowanda said its ER SMT series will enable faster assembly processing, thereby helping to reduce the cost of high-reliability electronic systems where ER components are utilised. The introduction of this new series also sends a message to the design community–that SMT designs are attainable even for some of the most challenging high-reliability components.

The ER3013 series meets the military’s Qualified Products List (QPL) requirements for Established Reliability to failure rate level M and addresses three MIL-PRF-39010 slash numbers (/19, /20 and /21). This qualification required extensive testing for electrical, environmental, mechanical and thermal performance. Level M represents the first level of failure rating for off-the-shelf inductors for high-reliability applications. Gowanda plans to achieve higher level failure ratings (Level P, then Level R) as ongoing testing continues to accumulate the hours necessary to attain those ratings on this ER SMT series.

Gowanda’s wirewound, moulded ER3013 series is designed for RF applications in military, aerospace and space–including defence and NASA communities–for use in communication, guidance, security, radar, test & evaluation and special mission applications.

The performance range provided by the ER3013 series includes inductance from 0.10 to 1000µH, Q min from 25 to 55, SRF MHz min from 3.4 to 680, DCR Ω max from 0.08 to 72 and current rating mA DC from 28 to 1,380. The specific MIL-PRF-39010 slash number determines the core type (phenolic, powdered iron or ferrite) and operating temperature range (-55°C to 105°C or -55°C to 125°C).