Surface Mount Condensatoren

Most SM capacitors are not identified in any way and the size of the components does not indicate the capacitance as each capacitor has a different number of layers. A 22n can be smaller than 1n due to the layers and the voltage rating. There is also a number of different sizes for SM capacitors. The only way to "read" the value is via a capacitance meter. Always keep chip capacitors in their "carrier" until required. Some manufacturers have a 3 digit code such as a letter to indicate the origin of the component, a letter to represent the two digits in the capacitance (A=10, B=12 C=15 D=18 etc) and the third digit is the multiplier. The answer is given in pF (puff). SM tantalums are marked in "n" "n" means nanofarad. (One thousand nanofarad = 1 microfarad.) A simple way to to remember nanofarad is via the following... 0.001u = 1n Therefore: 0.01u = 10n and 0.1u = 100n (this is needed when you are dealing with standard ceramic capacitors)
105 = 1u = 1 microfarad 106 = 10u 107 = 100u Here is the list of tantalum values: Tantalums come in 16v, 35v and 63v 105 = 1u -/- 225 = 2u2 475 = 4u7 -/- 106 = 10u 226 = 22u -/- 476 = 47u 107 = 100u -/- 227 = 220u
Electrolytics are marked in the conventional way: 1/16 = 1u 16 volt working 22/25 = 22u 25 volt working 100/6 = 100u 6 volt working