IC-Like Inductive Components Enhance Manufacturability

A family of inductive components that looks and feels like IC packages makes it possible for inductors to be assembled onto pc boards using standard pick-and-place equipment and reflow solder techniques. The firm's Integrated Inductive Components (IICs) incorporate a miniature, single-piece molded ferrite core with a 0.75-mm slot that has a copper leadframe inserted into it. Passing through the slot from one side to the other and bent into a standard gull-wing lead shape, each of the 10 leads on the leadframe forms half a turn of the inductive winding. The remaining half is completed by pc-board tracks. The use of pc tracks to complete windings makes IICs highly flexible. By changing the tracks between the leads, the devices can be configured in many ways. Applications include power conversion, electromagnetic compatibility and signal processing.