[BEST - Article library] MLCC is the easiest mistake to make! We teach you how to avoid ~

[BEST - Article library] MLCC is the easiest mistake to make! We teach you how to avoid ~
 
Key words: epoxy resin MLCC capacitor PCB mounting epoxy resin adhesive
*** MLCC capacitors are mounted on the PCB with a special process: epoxy mounting, which is not compatible with common soldering processes, so special care must be taken when selecting materials. This article takes the MLCC products of TDK, Murata, Vishay Vitramon and Knowles as examples to introduce the correct method for identifying epoxy resin installed MLCC capacitors, and guides engineers how to quickly filter epoxy resin installation MLCC capacitors through Digi-Key's website. .
 Almost all MLCC capacitors are mounted on the PCB using a reflow process. However, in the face of harsh environments and automotive-grade applications, another PCB mounting method can be used: epoxy glue, rather than “glue” by soldering.
 Capacitors used in such epoxy mounting methods are not compatible with conventional soldering processes. If you use the wrong soldering method to solder them, it will not be able to properly mount the MLCC on the board. If the wrong way of soldering is not found during assembly of the part, it may mislead the fault diagnosis or cause bad materials.
 Not all MLCC capacitor suppliers offer this epoxy mounting option, as four of the original Digi-Key agents are available - TDK, Murata, Vishay Vitramon and Knowles.
 Unfortunately, these epoxy-mounted capacitors do not have a unique part numbering form, which makes it difficult to pick them out from solder-type capacitors. Instead, manufacturers typically integrate epoxy installation options into their normal part numbering scheme, which means that only one letter in the part number usually represents this important difference. If you don't look carefully, you may find the wrong alternative.
 
1
 For TDK's automotive grade CGA series capacitors, epoxy mounted capacitors are only indicated by a letter "D" on the suffix, which is generally defined as "TDK internal code" and may have other letters such as "A", "B", "C", "E", etc.
 









2
For Murata's automotive grade GCx series capacitors, the epoxy-mounted capacitor is indicated by the third letter "G" in the part number, but this option does not mention the word "epoxy". .
 













 
 
 
3
For Vishay's VJ series of capacitors, there are two different part numbering schemes to note - the old and discontinued part numbering schemes specify the epoxy mounting option as the "N" option.
 







 Their new part numbering scheme assigns the option for epoxy to "E" or "F".
4
For Knowles Novacap, their epoxy installation codes are designated "palladium silver" terminals by "P" (non-RoHS) and "PR" (RoHS).
 




















  For TDK, Murata, and Vishay products, Digi-Key is making special red markings for these epoxy-mounted capacitor images:
 









 In addition, there are two options for installing these epoxy capacitors or filtering them out. If only the epoxy installation option is selected, select the epoxy in the "Features" option as shown below:
 











 These feature labels indicate epoxy mountable components.