Ceramic Capacitor Markings 104

Ceramic capacitors are generally smaller than types like electrolytic capacitors and therefore the markings need to be more concise.

Ceramic capacitor markings 104.

A ceramic capacitor is a fixed value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric it is constructed of two or more alternating layers of ceramic and a metal layer acting as the electrodes the composition of the ceramic material defines the electrical behavior and therefore applications. In addition to the capacitance value and possibly the working voltage or breakdown voltage the capacitor may be marked by its tolerance. The 3 digit capacitor code 104 stands for 100 nf in words. One hundred nanofarads capacitance.

Often the value may be given in picofarads. Larger capacitors the cylindrical aluminum electrolyte type or the double layer type use units of microfarads uf or µf equal to 10 6 farads. There are several tolerance marking systems used. The smallest capacitors made from ceramic film or tantalum use units of picofarads pf equal to 10 12 farads.

Two of the most common are shown here. The first is used with small ceramic capacitors and appears as a single letter. When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them.

The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier.