Page 68 - Make Your Own PCBs with EAGLE from Schematic Designs to Finished Boards

Electrolytic capacitors usually have their capacitance and maximum voltage written on them.
Ceramic and smaller through-hole capacitors are identified by a three-digit code. This is the
capacitance in picofarads using a similar scheme to resistor code. The first two digits are the value,
and the third digit is the number of zeros to add. Thus a capacitor marked as 104 is 1, 0, 0000, or
100,000 pF or 100 nF.

SMD Capacitors

Small nonpolarized SMD capacitors use the same common footprints as SMD resistors, that is, 0402,

0603, 0805, 1206, and 1210 being common sizes. When it comes to larger-value electrolytic
capacitors, typically the devices have a square base with a cylindrical component on top. A
commonly used standard for this was devised by Panasonic and is generally referred to as Panasonic
B to E for the majority of electrolytic sizes.
Figure 3-6 shows a selection of SMD capacitors. The capacitor sizes are (left to right) 0201,

0805, 1206, and Panasonic D. All the capacitors are 100 nF. You may at first sight miss the 0201
capacitor. It really is minute. When selecting components for hand soldering, don’t attempt anything
smaller than 0805.