Blog Archives - Intercole - UK Contract Electronic Manufacture

MULTI LAYER CERAMIC CAPACITORS (MLCCS)

29/7/2019

After an extended period of uncertainty it seems there's finally some light at the end of the tunnel for MLCCs as they slowly become more readily available. While pricing may not be reducing just yet, there are at least signs that it is stabilising. And while some manufacturers still have long and extended lead-times – in some cases in excess of 40 weeks – fewer now appear to have formal allocation in place. The improvement in availability has also come sooner than many had anticipated, with many sources originally citing improvements from 2020 onwards. MLCC pricing is not increasing at the rate seen over the past 12 months, but it must be noted that pricing is not looking like it will return to its pre-allocation levels at this stage.

SECURITY DEVICES FOR MEDICAL DISPOSABLES

26/7/2019

There has been a notable increase in the take up of security device IC’s for medical disposals from manufacturers such as Maxim Integrated. To ensure patient safety, health care workers must process, sterilize, and operate many consumable and disposable medical products under carefully controlled conditions. By designing authentication and security features into medical devices, manufacturers and health care centres can help ensure that these limited-use medical products cannot be reused or used too many times, and that counterfeits can be effectively and efficiently detected and removed from the supply chain.

The technology offers both contact and contactless authentication solutions, and typically rely on challenge-response protocols to establish the identity of a device. The secure authenticators offer easy integration into embedded designs, helping to meet the requirements for Unique Device Identification (UDI).