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Overview

General comment

Production covered

Solid tantalum electrolytic capacitor with sintered Ta anode pellet, Ta2O5 dielectric grown by H3PO4 anodization, and either MnO2 or conductive polymer (PEDOT:PSS) solid cathode. High volumetric efficiency for high-reliability applications (mil/aerospace, medical implant, automotive safety, high-frequency RF). Distinct from MLCCs (ceramic) and aluminum electrolytics (wound foil). The cathode chemistry, CV/g powder grade and EIA case size of the cell this dataset represents are named in the variant sentence that follows.

This variant represents a conductive-polymer (PEDOT:PSS) cathode - modern, low ESR (<100 mohm), benign failure mode, growing share; 18,000 CV-g powder - mid-tier commercial; EIA A-case package measuring 3.2 × 1.6 × 1.6 mm.

Modelling choices

This dataset is modelled with no water reuse. No reclaim rate is published for this kind of plant, so the water shown is the full fresh intake and no recycling credit has been deducted from it.

Technology
Solid Tantalum Electrolytic
Geography
No single dominant region. KEMET (Greenville SC, USA + Monterrey, Mexico), AVX/Kyocera (Myrtle Beach SC, USA + Czech Rep), Vishay (Be'er Sheva, Israel + Mexico + Czech), Panasonic (Japan), TANIOBIS (Goslar, Germany – powder).
Terms used above
  • ESR equivalent series resistance

System boundary

System boundary - Tantalum Capacitor Polymer 18000 Case ASystem boundary figure: identity, gate in, entering flows, the dashed system boundary and the unit processes inside it, the reference product, emissions and waste, and below it the flows that are recorded but not quantified. No inventory quantities.Tantalum Capacitor Polymer 18000 Case AGATE INCapacitor-grade tantalum powder, as receivedENTERING FLOWSElectricityWaterMaterialsSYSTEM BOUNDARYMODELLED PROCESS SEQUENCEProcess sequenceAnode sinteringCathode formationREFERENCE PRODUCTTantalum Capacitor Polymer 18000Case ATested and tape-and-reel finishedcapacitorEMISSIONS AND WASTEEmissions to airEmissions to waterWaste routesRECORDED BUT NOT QUANTIFIEDIn scope, left out of the quantified inventoryCut off below the significance threshold, or with no background dataset available - each is listed with its reason1FLOWsystem boundaryreference flowentering flowemission / waste

The figure groups this dataset's unit processes by class. It is not a count of manufacturing steps — each process runs over as many passes as the flow requires, and those pass counts ship with the dataset.

Download this figure (SVG)

Data quality and references

Composite DQI 2.5 Good
Reliability
3.3
Completeness
3.0
Temporal
3.1
Geographic
2.0
Technological
1.7

Pedigree scores follow the ecoinvent data-quality matrix: 1 is the best attainable, 5 the weakest. The composite is their aggregate.

Sampling procedure
Vendor specifications and peer-reviewed literature
Coverage status
Partial
Pedigree-scored source files
3 — the source records behind this dataset's manufacturing operations. Each carries the five pedigree axes above; the composite DQI aggregates them.

Technosphere inputs

10 flows. Quantities are not published; they ship with the dataset on Circa.

Electricity, Global (GLO) ElectricitykWh · -36.4% / +94.5%
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from equipment energy across all manufacturing operations. This model includes no facility support, so the total is the manufacturing operations alone.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
electricity, medium voltage
Uncertainty
-36.4% / +94.5% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kWh
Fresh water WaterL · -50% / +100%
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from process-water and ultrapure-water demand across all manufacturing operations. This model includes no facility support, so the demand is the manufacturing operations alone. The fresh intake shown is that whole demand: the water-recycling scenario this dataset assumes reuses none of it, so nothing has been deducted, and wastewater follows the same balance.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
tap water
Notes
Process and cleaning water
Uncertainty
-50% / +100% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
L
Ta Anode Pellet Materialkg · -37.3% / +35.5%
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
tantalum powder, capacitor-grade
Notes
Purchased input grossed to fund the authored process loss booked as Sieve reject fines + oversized chunks (mass-closure funding; the retained mass is the product-side figure).
Uncertainty
-37.3% / +35.5% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Ta Riser Wire Materialkg · -60% / +150%
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
tantalum powder, capacitor-grade
Uncertainty
-60% / +150% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Carbon Paint Materialkg
Background data
proxy-mapped
Background dataset
graphite
Uncertainty
No range defined.
Unit
kg
Silver Materialkg · -73.3% / +30%
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
silver
Notes
From Silver Paint (70.0% silver). Silver content of the cured film. The applied paint is a silver powder slurry; the solvent evaporates during cure, so the retained layer is silver held in an organic binder rather than pure metal.
Uncertainty
-73.3% / +30% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Epoxy resin, liquid Materialkg · -73.3% / +30%
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
epoxy resin, liquid
Notes
From Silver Paint (30.0% epoxy resin, liquid). Declared proxy for the cured organic binder. The binder chemistry is not publicly specified; a liquid epoxy resin stands in for the resin and curing agent system, and any minor conductive filler carried in the paste is not resolved separately.
Uncertainty
-73.3% / +30% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Nickel, class 1 Materialkg · -31.6% / +24%
Source citations
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
nickel, class 1
Notes
From Leadframe Alloy42 (42.0% nickel). Nickel content of the alloy, as stated by the capacitor manufacturer. Purchased input grossed to fund the authored process loss booked as Alloy 42 trim from leadframe stamping (mass-closure funding; the retained mass is the product-side figure).
Uncertainty
-31.6% / +24% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Steel, low-alloyed Materialkg · -31.6% / +24%
Source citations
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
steel, low-alloyed
Notes
From Leadframe Alloy42 (58.0% steel, low-alloyed). Declared proxy for the iron balance of the alloy. Low-alloyed steel is the ferrous material-form dataset used elsewhere in this database for specialty ferrous alloys; the real balance is low-carbon iron. Purchased input grossed to fund the authored process loss booked as Alloy 42 trim from leadframe stamping (mass-closure funding; the retained mass is the product-side figure).
Uncertainty
-31.6% / +24% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg
Epoxy Encapsulation Materialkg · -11.4% / +39%
Source citations
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12
Background dataset
epoxy resin, liquid
Notes
Purchased input grossed to fund the authored process loss booked as Epoxy mold flash (mass-closure funding; the retained mass is the product-side figure).
Uncertainty
-11.4% / +39% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg

Outputs and waste

Wastewater Wastewaterm3 · -50% / +100%
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the water balance: fresh-water input minus evaporation.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
carried, no background dataset
Background dataset
No treatment route recorded for this output.
Uncertainty
-50% / +100% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
m3
Sieve reject fines + oversized chunks Solid wasteg · ±50%
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
treatment of inert waste, sanitary landfill
Uncertainty
±50% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
g
Spent gettering strips Solid wasteg
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
treatment of hazardous waste, underground deposit
Uncertainty
No range defined.
Unit
g
Anodization bath sludge Solid wasteg
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
market for metalliferous hydroxide sludge
Uncertainty
No range defined.
Unit
g
Alloy 42 trim from leadframe stamping Solid wasteg
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
market for iron scrap, sorted, pressed
Uncertainty
No range defined.
Unit
g
Epoxy mold flash Solid wasteg
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
treatment of inert waste, sanitary landfill
Uncertainty
No range defined.
Unit
g
Scrapped material (line yield) Solid wastekg · -23.5% / +35.6%
Derivation basis
  • Calculated from the mass balance of spent materials and consumables, with treatment selected from the waste classification.

The sources below are this dataset's own bibliography. They are not tied to this row.

Source citations (dataset-level)
Inherited from this dataset's own bibliography, not tied to this row:
Background data
ecoinvent 3.12 treatment route
Background dataset
treatment of inert waste, sanitary landfill
Notes
Calculated reject material after accounting for a manufacturing yield of 95%.
Uncertainty
-23.5% / +35.6% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg

Emissions to air

2 elementary flows released to air by this dataset's own operations. Quantities are not published; they ship with the dataset on Circa.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) Emission to airg
Derivation basis
  • The public sources reviewed do not quantify the mass of volatile organic compounds released when the conducting-polymer cathode dispersion is dried and cured; the quantity is estimated from the dispersion applied to each piece and its volatile fraction

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Compartment
Air (non-urban air or from high stacks)
ecoinvent 3.12 elementary flow
NMVOC, non-methane volatile organic compounds
Uncertainty
A minimum-maximum range is defined for this flow. Bounds ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
g
Volatile organic compounds (VOC) from epoxy cure Emission to airg
Derivation basis
  • Calculated as an air release, from a mass balance on the process gases going in, with the destruction or removal efficiency of any point-of-use abatement applied.
  • No corresponding ecoinvent dataset or flow was identified for this entry, so it is published with its own quantity and no background link

No source is attached to this row.

Source citations
Not stated
Compartment
Air
ecoinvent 3.12 elementary flow
Not stated
Uncertainty
A minimum-maximum range is defined for this flow. Bounds ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
g

Emissions to water

No emissions to water are recorded at this level.

Flows not quantified

1 flow is recorded for this dataset but carries no quantity — cut off below the significance threshold, or with no background dataset available. It remains inside the declared system boundary; each is listed with its reason.

Not quantified - no background dataset available (1)

Polymer Cathode Materialkg · -75% / +150%
Source citations
Background data
no background dataset
Background dataset
Not applicable: this flow is not quantified in the inventory.
Reason
The conductive-polymer cathode of a polymer tantalum capacitor. No dataset for this polymer, or for any comparable intrinsically conductive polymer, exists in the background databases used for linkage, and standing in a generic acrylic or thermoplastic would misrepresent the monomer chain. Under this project's boundary policy an honest gap is preferred to a poor substitute, so the quantity is recorded here and its upstream production is left unlinked.
Uncertainty
-75% / +150% around the published quantity. The bounds themselves ship with the dataset on Circa.
Unit
kg

Limitations and unquantified flows (5)

Limits this dataset declares about itself: first any limit stated in its own description, then any limit it declares flow by flow, grouped by channel. Each entry below is the model's own disclosure.

Waste

  • Spent gettering strips leaves the boundary as waste but is not funded by any material input on this bill; see that row for the quantity. Titanium getter strips are a furnace consumable. No titanium purchase is booked on the capacitor bill and no donor quantifies one, so the spent strip mass is carried as a declared open mass rather than funded from an unrelated input.
  • Anodization bath sludge leaves the boundary as waste but is not funded by any material input on this bill; see that row for the quantity. Ta(OH)5 + phosphate precipitate from the anodization bath. The phosphate half comes from the H3PO4 bath, which this dataset does not book as a purchased chemical, so the sludge is carried as a declared open mass rather than attributed wholly to the tantalum pellet.

General

  • Not quantifiedPhosphoric acid for the anodization bath is not quantified on this dataset. The dielectric is grown anodically in H3PO4 and the resulting bath sludge IS booked as an output, so the bath itself is an acknowledged input, not an absent one. The cathode-formation process files do record a per-kg-of-finished- capacitor figure for it, as drag-out plus bleed makeup on a re-used bath, but its per-piece allocation depends on a bath-turnover rate that is not published. It is left unquantified here rather than shipped on an assumed turnover; the process files carry the donor figure.
  • Not quantifiedManganese nitrate is not quantified on the MnO2 route. The cathode is formed by repeated Mn(NO3)2 pyrolysis cycles; the MnO2 product of that reaction is booked as a material and its NO2 release as an air emission, but the nitrate precursor consumed to make it is not booked as a purchased chemical. The number of impregnation cycles, and therefore the precursor mass per piece, is vendor-specific and not disclosed.
  • Not quantifiedProcess gases are not quantified on this dataset although every modelled route uses one. The process files record hydrogen for the vacuum sintering atmosphere and nitrogen for the cathode-formation ovens. (The argon cover gas the same files record belongs to the magnesiothermic reduction, which this flow no longer books - it rides the purchased capacitor-grade powder.) The remaining figures sit on a per-kg-of-tantalum basis in files this model consumes on a per-kg-of-finished-capacitor basis, and the conversion for a cover gas is not the tantalum mass fraction that governs the material rows, so they are deferred rather than converted on an assumption.

The flows above are this dataset's own records. What follows are the scope rules set once for the whole database in the methodology report, repeated here so every dataset page carries them.

Database-wide boundary policy — applies to every REEL dataset

These boundaries are set once for the whole database, in Chapter 2 of the methodology report, and apply to this dataset wherever they are relevant to it. The excluded flows listed above are specific to this dataset.

Use phase
Product operation is outside the cradle-to-gate scope.
End-of-life treatment
Recycling and disposal are outside the cradle-to-gate scope.
Distribution and retail
The gate is a finished component ready for integration into a higher-level assembly.
Inbound transport of raw materials
Transport of purchased raw materials to the manufacturing facility is already inside the upstream "market for" datasets that users link to a background database, so it is not modelled a second time here. This does not cover freight between REEL production stages, which is modelled where a dataset authors it.
Returnable shipping containers
Where freight between production stages is modelled, the mass moved is the product itself. The shipping container (FOSB, SEMI M31) is returnable capital equipment whose per-trip share is unsourced, so its tare is excluded from the transport effort.
Photomask fabrication
A mask set's embodied burden is amortised across a high-volume production run and is not attributed per wafer. Users assessing low-volume production should add mask fabrication separately; the methodology report gives the basis for the exclusion.
Employee transport, administration and R&D overhead
Employee transportation, facility administration and R&D/pilot-production overhead are outside scope.
Capital goods
Manufacturing equipment, cleanroom construction and facility infrastructure are excluded, on the grounds of absent public data on equipment embodied energy, uncertainty in equipment lifetime and allocation, common practice in electronics LCA, and a focus on the operational inventory. Future versions may include capital goods when sufficient public data becomes available.
Precious metal recovery credits
Scrap recovery credits for precious metals are excluded pending data availability.
Wafer reclaim
Test wafers and scrap are outside the system boundary.

Inside the boundary, linked rather than modelled

Silicon ingot growth and wafer slicing
Inside the cradle-to-gate scope, but treated as upstream material inputs linked to background databases rather than modelled as REEL processes.
Freight between production stages
Where a dataset's product moves between REEL production stages - wafer fabrication to the packaging site, for example - that leg is authored as a transport service and linked to an ecoinvent freight activity. It is measured as a transport effort in tonne-kilometres, not as a mass. Route distances are authored per route class with a stated band; a lower bound of zero is a modelling statement that the two sites can be co-located, not a missing value.

Cut-off criteria

A flow is excluded from a process inventory when it contributes less than 1 % of the total mass of inputs to that unit process, or less than 1 % of its total energy input. The denominator is total process inputs, not product mass. That distinction matters in semiconductor manufacturing, where the input mass of water, chemicals and gases greatly exceeds the product mass, so the threshold removes only genuinely minor flows.

Included regardless of the cut-off

  • Perfluorocarbons (CF4, C2F6, SF6, NF3) - high GWP, EPA regulated
  • Heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Hg, Cr(VI)) - RoHS regulated, high toxicity
  • Volatile organics (photoresist solvents, PGMEA) - air quality
  • Precious metals (Au, Ag, Pd, Pt) - high embodied impacts
  • Ozone-depleting substances (legacy CFCs, HCFCs) - Montreal Protocol