Ask Hackaday: How’s That Capacitor Shortage Going? | Hackaday

In the world of electronic manufacturing, bad luck has been shrouded in a faint shadow. Finding parts is becoming more and more difficult, and the parts that can be found are expensive. No, it has nothing to do with the tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese goods last summer. This is a question of no scapegoat. This is the core issue of any economic system. This is a shortage of capacitors and resistors.

When we first reported

, Things are fine for the time being. Yes, the major manufacturers say that they are splitting the production lines until they can be profitable by restarting them, but they are relieved: the parts are in stock and the cost is not that much.

Now, this is a different story. We are in a capacitor shortage in 2018, and we don’t know when it will get better.

The news about the shortage of chip resistors and capacitors has arrived early this year.

. The best reason for Yaego to act is that the price of SMD resistors is already too low. There are a large number of chip resistors and capacitors, and the inventory is simply not fast enough. There is a lowest price to make resistors economically. The price of each resistor seems to be above a few tenths of a cent.

When we first saw the impending shortage of resistors and capacitors, several things caught people's attention. First, it is almost impossible to correctly calculate the inventory of a single value capacitor or resistor among all manufacturers, markets, and distributors. The microchip resistors and capacitors are called jellybean components for a reason: if you need a 1MΩ, 5%, 100mW, 0603 resistor, that is actually all you need to know. But this does not describe a single inventory department-it is still far away. The distributor will list the same part three times, one is the tape, one is the cut tape, and the other is the complete roll. There will be subtle differences between parts between manufacturers, such as temperature coefficients. And some manufacturers may not make 1MΩ, 5%, 100mW, 0603 resistors, but choose to incorporate 1/8W resistors (unless you use them as heating elements, these resistors are the same). In short, if you want to build a device that requires 1MΩ resistors and dissipates 100mW, and needs to use a 0603 package, there is actually no way to know how many resistors can be used in the application.

Second, when there is news of a shortage of resistors and capacitors, inventory levels are still very, very high. You can buy ten million identical resistors from the same manufacturer. It will take some time for inventory levels to drop. When the heroine declared bankruptcy in 2012, Twinkies did not magically disappear. It took a few days for the Ding Dang family to disappear from the shelves. It was a story that was very attractive to social media and attracting public snapping up. Resistors are not as sexy as Twinkies at all. The engineer will buy them when needed.

Considering these two items together, we can understand the shortage of passive components.

We first learned about the shortage of passive components. The data comes from FindChips Pro data on Yageo RC0603JR-071ML thick film resistors (disclosure: FindChips Pro is a tool produced by Hackaday's parent company Supplyframe). In August 2017, approximately 10 million such resistors were available in all distributors. In February 2018, there were 6 million. Today, there are more than 2 million. Power levels are falling, and the prices of these resistors are slowly rising.

Just as it is impossible to determine how many 0603 resistors are available, it is impossible to say what the general trend of these passive components is. In the absence of data, we can look at an anecdote, in this regard, I can tell you that there is a shortage of capacitors.

On June 18th this year, I ordered a 50V, 0.1uF, X7R, 0805 capacitor reel from Mouser. I didn’t notice that they were out of stock, so 

. Since then, the order has been delayed twice, and now I hope to deliver the capacitor on March 25, 2019.

The biggest news in the field of electronic component procurement is the tariffs imposed by the United States on Chinese goods. These tariffs seem to be easy scapegoats, but this shortage has nothing to do with tariffs. There may be reasons to believe that tariffs have little effect on inventory levels-just because something costs more does not mean you will not be able to buy it, it will only cost more. No, for electronics manufacturers, the greater threat is the availability of resistors, capacitors and diodes. These boring but vital components can be found in every electronic device, and anecdotal evidence seems to indicate that we are in shortage.

The fact is that the thoughtful discussion about the shortage of capacitors is 

Like

Homework problems. The price of existing inventory is half a cent, and the factory can only make a profit by selling its small parts for a tenth of a cent. Factory owners can change the small parts they want to produce, or they can give the factory some downtime until it is profitable to produce small parts again. This seems to be what is happening with jellybean parts.

So, how does the engineering community cope with the shortage of these jellybean parts? We would like to hear from the Hackaday community about resistors, capacitors or any electronic components that cause you to face shortages when ordering. Please share your experience in the comments below.

But the question here is: what happens when prices rise and the factory opens again? Availability increased and prices fell again. It seems very simple. Yageo also took the risk that some other supplier IS could operate the factory at a slightly cheaper price and occupy the market when it was absent. In any case, this is not a risk-free game.

Ideally, the factory would calculate the actual cost of part runs, put the runs into inventory, and then shut down again for a period of time. But this is machine time, floor space and periodic labor. It's too hard to justify. A savvy company will only produce a few parts in a series and rotate them throughout the series so they can "work hard" based on the popularity of a particular value/scale and allocate production time proportionally. Another problem is that too many companies in space make the same parts, as if two gas stations are opposite each other... aggressive price warnings only cost a few tenths of a cent.

Even smarter industries will unite and coordinate, such as "Panasonic makes x-series electrolyte. Yago changes 0805 from x ohm to y ohm."

> Smarter industries will come together...

Do you mean to create a cartel?

"A smarter industry will unite and coordinate, for example, "Panasonic will electrolyze the x series. Yago changed 0805 from x ohm to y ohm and so on. "

This would be very illegal.

Well.. If this is serious, then this is a good reason for amateurs to re-embrace the hole components and start participating in the carnival.

What am I talking about when commercial manufacturers mostly stop using old stocks, where do you think all old stocks go? Just two days ago, I watched a vendor in a local grocery store sell someone a cardboard box filled with about 3 cubic feet of old and new electrolyte. I'm sure that for most amateurs, this is an unforgettable life. I think it sold for 5 dollars.

Okay, that's not where most things go. Most of it may have entered the landfill, but there is enough margin to keep us busy for a long time. But this will not be forever. These sellers are tired of dragging those old unwanted parts. Many of them are also retiring. I saw a lot of people throw away things at the end of the show instead of putting them back in the trailer and taking them home.

And, most importantly, you don't need a PCB to make a prototype! Remove the dust on the solderless breadboard!

it is good. I know that many parts are just not in the through holes, but so what. Nothing can stop the fusion of the two. Yes, I know, they are bigger. Does everything you do need to be in your pocket? Don't like drilling? Well, do most of you make PCBs by others? The PCB production site I saw did not see the charge of each hole. Oh, are you making your own PCB? It's good for you! When CNC helps you drill, go drink beer or Bawls or something!

Oh yes, I want to add that the boxes for buying hats I mentioned are by no means uncommon. I have been watching!

Agree with all points. I have one or two life-span resistors, and almost as many capacitors, all sorted into a single plastic drawer. Few of them come from Digikey or Mouser. Instead, most people come from hamsters and other amateurs who are tired of having too much on hand.

I agree. Through holes and even point-to-point are the best choice for diy projects. Dumpster diving always provides parts. Most SMT stuff (parts from discarded circuit boards) is unusable to most people.

Speak for yourself. Many of us are building DIY projects, and this is not feasible in through-holes.

If I live near any of them, it would be a good source. I'm happy to pay shipping for that $5 box, but in rural areas, these otherwise thrown away boxes may also be unicorns.

Although if you wish to get rid of one or two problems, I am happy to remove them from your hands.

"Now, this is a different story. We are in the "capacitor shortage in 2018" and we don't know when it will get better."

At which point did you jump out of the window?

If a shortage of capacitors causes you to do this, then I think you should seek help. Again, many of us don’t long to talk to people. I think you should ask Eliza questions.

>Hello, this is Eliza.

*I am worried about the shortage of capacitors.

>How long have you been worried about the shortage of capacitors?

*My attention starts today.

> I get it.

*If the situation gets worse, I may jump out of a window.

>Come, come, clarify your thoughts.

*If I cannot obtain capacitors, then I cannot manufacture electronic products.

>How do you know that you can't get capacitors and you won't be able to make electronic products?

*If there is no capacitor, the circuit will not work.

>It's fun.

*You did not help. I will speak out on the Hack blog every day.

>Can you believe that I am not helpful?

????

love it.

I always show people that my editor has a built-in psychotherapist. If you open the menu (F10, maybe right-click), it's under the "Help" category, which I find interesting. Indeed, an editor can manage your life.

User reports in Mac OS System 7

I'm lost. It must be the rock on which I have been living. What is Eliza, where does he/she/ come from?

ELIZA is a pioneering "chatbot" project that began in the 1960s. It was introduced as a "computer therapist", it will ask a lot of open questions, or repeat what it tells them to users. It is a landmark tool that has had a long-term impact on computing culture (and imitation...)

Obviously, you can get the version that runs in emacs :)

You can read more on Wikipedia.

interesting! It reminds me of a science fiction paperback book I read decades ago. I have forgotten the name a long time ago. It features an electronic psychoanalyst named Siegfried. The protagonist usually makes fun of it, but it can end in the book. Solve his problem at any time. . It's funny, I just hope I can remember the name. Compressed the memory and did another job for Ziggy, the robot shrank, maybe?

@kmpres: Frederik Pohl's "gateway".

In 1992, "Dr Sbaitso" of Sound Blaster 2.0 Pro was in your life.

@jjonas: That's it! Sigfrid von Shrink is the name he gave to his computer analyst. If Eliza has offspring. Great story, thank you for returning it to me!

In production, I just ask the fab to purchase those gummy ingredients. I do not have a situation where a specific specification is not available. Although I only need a few thousandths this year. For large-scale production, this may be a bigger problem.

The problem I have encountered countless times is that the specific part number I specified last year is no longer available, but there are always alternatives with similar costs.

I don't recommend this, it is the best practice to call out all parts on the BOM and make sure it works, and you don't need to call out multiple substitutes for troublesome parts before submitting the BOM to the manufacturer/before. Assembler. Since passive parts become obsolete every year, the design needs to be maintained continuously. You may not notice the problems in the production run, but when you scale up, problems will arise.

That's what we did. unconsciously. We specified the parts, and then the fab chose different parts, which finally caused the ceramic capacitors with too low rated voltage to short-circuit.

I am glad that I have a lot of stock on my bench.

We have made sure to produce what you need for several years, and good luck to the rest of you, especially the DIY manufacturer company that can spend hundreds of thousands of extra to fix parts.

The bigger problem is automotive grade parts (AEC-Qxx designation). Some parts are out of stock around the world, and large auto suppliers have paid the price for casting production. This makes it even impossible for smaller companies to produce products. On things like 0.1uf and 1uf capacitors, I seem to have common resistor and capacitor values ​​with 30-50 weeks lead time.

According to experience, if you are not a car company or supplier, please do not use any car parts, otherwise it will only burn you. They almost always have a 6-week delivery time, and most of them are out of stock. Do you know why? New cars are produced every 6 months, and new models are produced every year.

Ever wondered why I might need automotive-grade parts? Isn't everyone making LED throwers or complex LED cubes?

Our company designs and produces mechanical testing and measuring machines, which are so large and powerful that they can be used as heavy machinery. We manufacture laboratory and industrial grade machines (separate drill bits) from small to large. We do not use these auto parts, and have passed all global regulations, our system is functionally safe and industrial grade. Our embedded control system is also redundant at the hardware level, but there is no AEC-Qxx name for any component, so it is not so dry. Failure analysis and derating as well as correct system design can eliminate your dependence on certain parts without sacrificing performance. Or you might have a crazy app, but I’m not thinking about it, but someone from IDK

Indeed, functional safety does not require AEC-Q components. But maybe Evilc66 works in the automotive industry?

My product can withstand ESD shocks of +/- 27KV, and we will not disturb the car parts.

When it is profitable to make them, they will be manufactured; at the same time, we just raise the price of the finished product to account for any increase in supply costs. It may not be Tarifs, but inflation is good.

I hate someone buying one or two reels during the processing of your purchase order. It happened to me many times.

In general, take care of the design and reassure the pcba house that yes, they can use yageo instead of multilayer resistors in that place.

Ensure design flexibility.

It was painful for us all summer, but after the carpet was yanked dozens of times in 4 months, we had purchased all the parts.

As EE, I design circuit boards. These circuit boards are produced by contract manufacturers and mass-produced. The shortage is not limited to capacitors and resistors, but also other components such as ESD protection diodes and LEDs. Sometimes it is not enough to list more than 3 alternatives into a single part. We basically took the approach of buying as many parts as possible to ensure that our supply chain remains uninterrupted. Since the parts we purchased exceeded our needs, it was ridiculous that this further exacerbated the shortage.

It can be seen as a shortage of IPv4 and it can be traded.

NXP brought us a heavy blow. The factory failed to provide parts in time for production. When the problem came to our table, we learned that the delivery time of Kinetis K10 was 48 weeks. Delivery time is about 40 weeks. We had to redesign our products instead of using any NXP products... We also had to exchange between different parts between batches based on the products available (mainly LDO and bottle caps).

So far this year, the BOM size is about 120 components, and about 16,000 units have been produced.

To get 100mW from this 1 Meg resistor, you will need to apply 316V across it. But most 0603 resistors have a maximum rated voltage of only 75V, so...

Moreover, 0603 will not dissipate 100mW.

Make sure it will dissipate, depending on the resistance and voltage. And 0603 will dissipate for a long time without overload.

That's right. The advantage of surface mount components is that they are always mounted on the heat sink-pad and PCB.

My shortage of goods is free time

+1

The entire reel.

You can buy time on the reels! ? !

Then I need a new distributor, because that's great!

Don't worry about inventory: it is only available during reel time.

"Resistors are not as sexy as Twinkies at all." This is because Twinkies have a longer half-life.

"Resistors are not as sexy as Twinkies at all. Engineers will buy them as needed."

Hmm...How many flavors of cream are there? And how many resistance values?

Can't you expect "engineers" to buy them all? Become real!

Especially when there is absolutely no reason to store these most basic components!

Even if there is a reason for this, and all "engineers" do it from the moment they hear it, can personal hoarding really solve the problem?

The resistors are correct, but 90% of the capacitors used in today's products are 100 nF or 1 uF.

The shortage of capacitors has been painful! We verified and approved the replacement display inventory, but found that the replacement is not available now...and so on. For "older" passive devices (for example, larger 0805, 1206 and/or lower voltage ratings and older dielectrics), the problem is more serious. The usability of 0402 and smaller versions will be better. That is where the factory allocates its capacity to serve the consumer market.

If your parts are on a shipping dock anywhere on the east coast of China, I have bad news...

Someone is going to be unemployed!

When they opened a container of counterfeit Watford crystals, I wanted to see their faces!

what is this? Is there an earthquake? There seems to be smoke in the air?

I think it is fog. My guess is that the ship has found the ground.

B ^)

No, that was 130MPH+ typhoon tossing around containers like Styrofoam cups.

These containers are strong. After draining the water and knocking out some dents, they will be as good as new.

Digikey shows 12 different reel models with 50V, 0.1uF, X7R, 0805 capacitors, and there is at least one reel in stock now, maybe it's time to cancel Mouser's order now?

I recently encountered a lot of problems when using high capacitance SMD capacitors. Obviously, this is difficult to do. My electronics manufacturer (which also provides components) reports that they have difficulty finding certain components. Fortunately, I am not producing high-volume products or very price-sensitive products, so I did.

I did find a large roll of 0805, 4.7uF capacitors on Mouser, so now my manufacturer already knows that there are more than 1,000 capacitors, so they will ask me if there are any components that can be used.

Rule of thumb: When possible, design to allow multiple sizes of spare parts. 0603, 0805, 1206-Combine them with through holes to achieve a common land layout.

You should also design as many values ​​as possible. In order to make the production line run normally, one of the substitutions I have to make this year is 100uF->150uF, because we can only get the latter in a short time.

In my design, most MLCC capacitor values ​​don't matter at all-they are used for signal coupling or power supply decoupling, and only the case size (which determines the ESL) is higher than tens of MHz is meaningful.

Of course, except for the prototype board or evaluation board, how to manually solder it? You cannot use a large footprint and place small parts on it, you must place them side by side. I can't waste so much space. Through holes are totally unacceptable. How should these be reflow soldered? Of course, I will use the smallest possible components.

Okay, yes, allowing the use of through-hole parts wastes a lot of space, but once you have a through-hole footprint, it is easy to place 1206 footprints between the holes and then overlap the 0805 and 0603 footprints on top of that. Except for high-voltage applications, there is really no problem with expanding the pads in this way. I have seen many products do this to allow the use of different IC packages to minimize the impact of supply chain issues.

About two months ago, once Digikey had 850,000 100nF capacitors in 0603, which may be the most used component in electronic products. This is their only 100nF 0603 SKU with almost 100 part codes. Within two to three hours, I saw the large lumps of food being eaten until it all disappeared. There was a talking point in my office that afternoon-"What is the current inventory level?"

I think the situation has actually improved, although you still need to quickly, fail and be flexible to find the parts you need. I noticed that the replenishment cycle is shortening; you can find the parts you need from at least one major distributor (Anglia, Arrow, Avnet, Digikey, EBV, Farnell, Future, Mouser, RS and Rutronik are my main suppliers) , And have patience and patience. I'm still very cautious, just in case this is just a consequence of the natural decline in summer demand.

Another advice for company buyers (not much use for hobbyists) is to get to know and work with your local sales representative and FAE. They can't turn water into wine, but they can adjust the schedule or try to get a few hundred dollars here and there, at least to keep the prototype work going.

PS: I am an electronic design engineer in the UK.

It is true that as long as consumers demand for products, electronic parts are needed, electronic parts will be manufactured, and electronic parts will be manufactured. They will make more Americans feel dissatisfied. They don't like how tariffs increase the cost of jointly restarting production in the United States.

Because if you are not willing to pay a few more cents for each part, would you like to pay an extra dollar?

After all, this may be related to Trump's import tariffs. I can see that some manufacturers in the United States expect the tax to fill their inventory of standard value components before the tax is set, because they know they will run out anyway. Combined with lower parts production, this will quickly dry up the market, especially for standard value parts.

The capacitor shortage started before the tariffs, and you might say that it exacerbated this shortage... Maybe, but I can’t believe it – most manufacturing is still going on in China, and the problem is obvious in China.

The shortage is due to allegations of collusion and price fixing against Japanese and Korean capacitor manufacturers. . The fixed price may only be due to the fact that the new Chinese bottle cap manufacturer has been cutting (and rumored to be losing) capacitors in Japan and South Korea for years. Japanese and Korean companies are the only companies that announced reductions in supply. This is a smart business move because it allows them to improve the food chain while allowing customers to place huge negative profit orders to China's loss-making leaders. Since the shortage started a year ago, at least one Chinese hat supplier has closed down... Long before Trump.

This summer, as part of a research project, I made 150 customized smart watches. Some small passive components will disappear and must be replaced once a week. IC (touch sensor) is obsolete, and electronic ink displays have become difficult to find. It is difficult to find the main MCU FRAM MSP430. LiPo battery enters and exits availability multiple times. I bought some of the parts we need on eBay, some from China, and some from small manufacturers that still have stock.

All this means that even if we open source the hardware and software design, it will be difficult for anyone else to make their own watches. They must redesign the circuit to replace parts that are no longer available, and may redesign the housing to fit the new parts (especially batteries and LCDs).

what? ? ! ! No inductor? Talking about resistors and capacitors but not about inductors is like saying "lion, tiger and nothing." Poor inductance, always treated like a red-haired stepson. No one cares.

My personal experience is that we may use 5 inductors on the BOM, including 80 resistors and 150 capacitors. On a dedicated multi-rail power supply, the number of inductors may be higher. If all ferrite beads are classified as inductors, this will help increase the number a bit. But in the end, inductors are not as common as other passive components in most electronic circuits.

Yes, very correct. Interestingly, I did not give this reason because they are relatively scarce, and inductors are also the least understood of the three, because they use a weird and weird magic, namely electromagnetics. :-)

Magnetism

FTFY

B ^)

BOM Cleanup -> Quotation -> BOM Cleanup -> Purchase Order -> More Parts Out of Stock -> BOM Cleanup -> Very Good

It requires more iterations than before, but we can make things. Haven't encountered performance obstacles yet.

Agree, although I have to go to Japan for some part, because that is the only supply. The prices are not cheap when you produce small quantities-they will kill you in transit. Then, the email will show the same parts as my normal supplier’s pending orders until next year. chaos.

It is understood from some suppliers that Octopart's RC0603JR-071ML inventory is still estimated to exceed 11 million.

Wow! Paul, I have never seen this website!

I'm confused. The shortage is due to excessive inventory. How does this work? If your inventory is reduced from 8 million to 2 million, does this mean that your inventory is less than before? Doesn't that mean they are still available?

This is not complicated. If you have 8 million inventory, and the weekly demand is 4 million, and there is a 4-week production cycle to restart production, then you are already in short supply.

I work for a large metering company. In addition to the current problems of TI, NXP and Vishay, we have spent a lot of time purchasing AVX, Yageo and Kemet. Our products are facing environmental challenges, and it is difficult for engineers to find alternatives, which can operate closely according to our requirements. Our normal suppliers kept their orders until they finally showed that they would not be able to provide support before they became clean. Fortunately, we have a backup supplier who can help, and we have been in trouble since April. On some AVX and Kemet series, our EAU ranges from 2 million to 36 million.

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