CAP-XX Limited (LSE:CPX),
a world leader in thin, flat supercapacitors for space-constrained electronic
devices, has demonstrated prototypes of surface-mountable supercapacitors at
its Lane Cove manufacturing facility in Australia. The company developed the
SMT (surface-mount technology) devices to meet customer requests for supercapacitors
capable of mass production assembly using standard reflow soldering techniques.
CAP-XX engineers sent several working prototypes of the SMT supercapacitors
though a reflow oven at 260 degrees C. Before reflow, the thin, prismatic prototypes
had ESRs (equivalent-series resistance) of 60 and 100 milliohms, capacitances
of 1.0 and 0.5 Farads, and voltage ratings of 2.75 and 5.5V, respectively. The
process had only minimal impact on performance, changing the ESR and capacitance
by less than 10%.
"A high-power, surface-mountable supercapacitor with the CAP-XX characteristics
of a thin, small form factor has been the holy grail for the portable electronics
industry, particularly mobile handsets," said Anthony Kongats, CAP-XX CEO.
"The preservation of performance demonstrated in this trial meets the requirements
of these customer groups."
CAP-XX is developing SMT devices to facilitate the adoption of supercapacitor-enabled
power architectures in high-end feature phones and other consumer electronics
devices. Current CAP-XX devices are manually soldered onto the PCB (printed-circuit
board).
"Supercapacitors will soon become a key component in mobile computing
products," said Craig Mathias, a principal with Farpoint Group, an advisory
firm specializing in wireless networking and mobile computing. "A supercapacitor
handles the large instantaneous power demands of flash photos, audio, video,
and wireless transmissions, maximizing battery life and enabling the use of
smaller batteries. Given ever-increasing demands on battery power from higher
clock rates and greater functionality, the supercapacitor is about to take center
stage in mobile-power applications."
Mathias continued, "CAP-XX's SMT capability is an impressive development
from a leader in the supercapacitor space."
CAP-XX supercapacitors store charge on nanoporous carbon electrodes on aluminum
foil, arranged in multiple layers and connected in parallel to minimize resistance
and maximize capacitance. This packs the highest energy and power densities
possible into thin (0.9 to 3.8mm), prismatic packages.
The company did not disclose expected availability for its SMT devices.