Ceramic core inductors are widely used in RF and microwave circuits where stable inductance, reliable performance, and consistent manufacturability are important. They are commonly used in filtering, impedance matching, oscillators, and other RF signal conditioning applications across a wide range of commercial and industrial designs.

As demand continues to grow for cost-effective and reliable RF components, Knowles is expanding its ceramic core inductor portfolio to support standard commercial, industrial, telecom, and medical applications that require dependable and consistent RF performance.

Resonators are the building blocks used to create filters. In the past, we published a blog post that discussed two different types of resonators – coaxial ceramic and dielectric. In this post, we will cover the details of a third type of resonator – the cavity resonator.

Energy storage capacitor banks supply pulsed power in all manner of high-current applications, including shockless compression and fusion. As the technology behind capacitor banks advances with more precise switching and higher energy density, fast discharge capacitors can reliably support more advanced applications.  

DC fast charging (DCFC) infrastructure is scaling aggressively. The global market is expected to reach $20 billion by 2035, charger power levels have reached 350-480 kW, and the U.S. is moving toward 100,000+ Level 3 ports by 2027.

At Knowles Precision Devices, we are well known for our expertise delivering high-performance mmWave filtering options. But did you know we also excel at providing a wide variety of lower frequency filtering options using a lumped element filter construction? In this blog post, we explore the basics of lumped element filter design, general lumped element filter characteristics, and how we can push lumped element filter design limits to develop a wide variety of high-performance low-frequency filtering options.

In power electronics, voltage is rarely perfectly DC. Switch-mode power supplies, inverters, and converters all generate AC ripple that flows into and out of capacitors. While a ripple current rating may seem secondary to a capacitance or voltage rating, in real-world designs, it is often a limiting factor for long-term reliability. This is because ripple current generates internal heat, and excessive heat is a primary driver of capacitor failure. To prevent premature failure, it’s critical for engineers selecting power electronics capacitors to truly understand ripple current ratings.

Satellite communication (satcom) systems have undergone a revolutionary transformation in recent years. The industry has shifted from multi-billion-dollar GEO satellites to million-dollar LEO satellites, reducing costs by three orders of magnitude while exponentially increasing the number of satellites in orbit.

In 2024, we wrote about the growing power demands of artificial intelligence. At the time, 60 to 80 kW server racks were already stretching datacenter design assumptions. Now, AI server racks consumer 60 to 140 kW each, with NVIDIA’s GB200 NVL72 operating at roughly 120 kW per rack. Consumption could reach 600 kW by late 2027 with the Rubin Ultra NVL576 system. Beyond 100 kW, traditional server power assumptions begin to break down.

Quadrature hybrid couplers are basic building blocks for many RF and microwave systems. For these couplers, the input splits into two output signals, of equal magnitude, with a 90 degree phase difference. Quadrature hybrid couplers provide improved input match for unbalanced loads. Energy splits evenly between outputs, and some energy is reflected back due to mismatch. For example, in Figure 1, there is a 90 degree phase difference between the two outputs, so the energy reflected at point A is 180 degree out of phase and cancels at the input port. At point B, the energy is in phase and sums at the isolated port, which is terminated.

Today, most converter circuits now include semiconductors and switches made of silicon carbide (SiC) instead of plain old silicon (Si). This is because when silicon and carbon are combined, the resulting material, SiC, has excellent mechanical, chemical, and thermal properties. Therefore, SiC-based converters can handle voltages up to 10 times greater than converters using just Si while also offering lower losses. These characteristics make these converters an excellent option for applications such as power electronics, industrial devices, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. In this post, we dive into the advantages of using snubber circuits to protect SiC-based converters and discuss how to further increase these efficiencies by focusing on capacitor selection.