AVX Corp., a manufacturer of advanced passive components and leaded solutions, has launched the latest version of its SpiTanII software that enables designers to view all basic characteristics and parameters for tantalum and Oxicap® (niobium oxide) capacitors. The company has also expanded the PSpice simulation software libraries it offers for its tantalum, tantalum polymer and niobium oxide chip parts, as well as introducing V6.0 of its Select-a-Cap software tool. Computer modeling and simulation is an important design resource that can save cost and time to market, and reduce potential quality issues. However, for this approach to be effective, high quality models are required to show realistic behavior and not merely "ideal" performance. These three new tools from AVX greatly improve the PC-based design-in process for tantalum and niobium oxide capacitors.

SpiTanII enables the designer to choose a desired component by part number or by reference to capacitance, rated voltage, case size or series. For the selected capacitor, all basic parameters, such as frequency characteristics of capacitance, ESR, impedance, DF and ripple current and ripple voltage ratings, are displayed. The latest version, 1.7, of the software includes new parts from TAJ, Oxicap, NOJ, and TLJ Series, as well as from high temperature THJ Series and low ESR TPS Series ranges.