How can I tell whether an SMT/SMD capacitor is oriented with plates horizontal or vertical?

Is there an industry standard for showing how plates in the SMT cap are oriented? How can you tell if it is a square-rectanguloid instead of being flattish in one dimension?

November 3, 2023

You can buy specially marked ones from ATC (American Technical Ceramics, and now owned by AVX, which is in turn owned by Kyocera) if you want to do this.
Or simply choose capacitors that are not square in cross-section, so the orientation can be distinguished even without markings.
Some datasheets have pictures that help if the cap is thinner.

#PCB Assembly

https://www.youtu.be/kX4gCs9szeA?si=dHZu33mLi7_9wpTv

Oliver Smith

Oliver is an experienced electronics engineer skilled in PCB design, analog circuits, embedded systems, and prototyping. His deep knowledge spans schematic capture, firmware coding, simulation, layout, testing, and troubleshooting. Oliver excels at taking projects from concept to mass production using his electrical design talents and mechanical aptitude.

Oliver Smith

What Others Are Asking

How do components not get knocked off or fall off during reflow?

Last week we visited a PCBA factory. We were looking at reflow ovens. A lot of them have a metal conveyor belt the boards sit on. On a double sided board, when you put the board on the metal belt, won’t the metal belt knock components off as they are only held on by paste?

Oliver Smith November 6, 2023

How should I handle wet PCBs?

A batch of PCB got wet in warehouse due to roof linking. Too terrible to shoulder the lost. How can I do to rescue these wet PCBs? Or to minimize the damage?

Oliver Smith November 15, 2023

Do the scratches on the PCB have any bad effect to products?

We receive a batch of PCB with scratches from my supplier, but they think it is acceptable. I have never seen such error on even an B stock boards parts. Very confused. How do scratches affect PCB working?

Oliver Smith October 13, 2023

How can I tell whether an SMT/SMD capacitor is oriented with plates horizontal or vertical?

Oliver Smith

Oliver Smith

What Others Are Asking

How do components not get knocked off or fall off during reflow?

How should I handle wet PCBs?

Do the scratches on the PCB have any bad effect to products?

Read Detailed Advice From Blog Articles