Chip (EIA) Component Packages

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Date Published:	October 25, 2015
Last Modified:	June 14, 2023

Overview

Surface-mount resistors, MLCC capacitors and ferrite beads are commonly packaged in a set of standardised chip packages. These package sizes are standardised by both the IEC in metric units and the EIA in imperial units.

NOTE

As much as I prefer the metric system, I’ve accepted that most people use the imperial codes when describing chip packages and use it myself also.

They are defined by four-digit number which represents the total footprint width and height, respectively (assuming the two footprint pads are on the left and right rather than the top or bottom, or more formally, the axis of the component runs parallel to the width).

In metric units, the format is to use two number each to describe the width and height in tenths of a millimeter, e.g. a chip package size ‘2012’ tells you the width is 2.0mm and the height is 1.2mm. In imperial, the numbers are in hundredths of an inch (which is NOT mills – that is thousandths of an inch). For example, an 0805 chip package tells you the width is 0.08inch, and the height 0.05inch. This is equivalent to the ‘2012’ metric representation. Below is a short description on the most popular chip packages. The imperial size of the footprint is listed first, and then the metric equivalent is followed in brackets.

The following is a list of the common chip packages, sorted from smallest to largest:

Package Designator (metric, IEC)	Dimensions (metric)	Package Designator (imperial, EIA)	Dimensions (imperial)	Typical Power Rating (W)	Land Area	Comments
0402	0.4x0.2mm	01005	0.0157x0.0079in	1/32		Ridiculously small chip package that can barely be seen by the naked eye.
0603	0.6x0.3mm	0201	0.024x0.012in	1/20	0.12mm²	Small chip package that is unsolderable by hand (it is just too small). BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET THE METRIC SIZE CONFUSED AS AN IMPERIAL as an 0603 imperial also exists!
1005	1.0x0.5mm	0402	0.039x0.020in	1/16	0.5mm²	These are too small for 'legitimate' hand soldering, but it can be done. A common size for resistors and small valued capacitors in the pico/nanofarad range.
1608	1.6x0.8mm	0603	0.063x0.031in	1/16	1.28mm²	This package supports all resistors, and ceramic capacitors up to 10uF. My favourite package size! You can easily solder these with a little experience. You can route a small track between the pads (given a distance of 0.6mm between the inside edges of the two pads, this just allows for a 0.2mm track and 0.2mm gap on each side, which is a common minimum clearance rule).
2012	2.0x1.25mm	0805	0.079x0.049in	1/10	2.4mm²	Supports ceramic capacitors up to 47uF. You can easily route a track between the two pads.
2518		1007		?	4.5mm²	Commonly used for chip inductors are the 100uH, 250mA mark.
3216	3.2x1.6mm	1206	0.126x0.063in	1/8	5.1mm²	One of the larger forms of SMT resistor/cap packages. Many of the bigger valued ceramic capacitors (100uF and up), come in this package, as well as the higher wattage resistors. Although smaller than their through-hole equivalents, 1206 components still take up a considerable amount of space on a PCB. Very easy to hand solder though!
3225	3.2x2.5mm	1210	0.126x0.098in	1/4	8.0mm²	Slightly fatter version of the 3216, and hence can handle more power.
4516	4.5x1.6mm	1806	0.177x0.063in	?	7.2mm²
4532	4.5x3.2mm	1812	0.18x0.13in	1/2	14.4mm²
5025	5.0x2.5mm	2010	0.197x0.098in	1/2	12.5mm²
6432	6.4x3.2mm	2512	0.25x0.13in	1	20.48mm²	One of the largest SMT chip packages you can get. Limited supply of components in this package, mainly power and current-sense resistors.
7451 or (7351 ¹ )	7.4x5.1mm	2920	0.29x0.20in		mm²	Used for PTC resettable fuses ² .

The following image shows how you can easily route an 0.2mm thick trace between the pads of a 0805 component.

Routing between the pads of a 0805 footprint (in Altium).

The following image is of 0603 (imperial) SMD components inside a small container.

A container from DealExtreme used for holding SMD components (capacitors in this picture)

SMD Chip Resistors

The following table shows the range of chip resistors package sizes (based on the EIAJ Chip Packages above), and typical parameters for each. Note that the maximum current rating is based on the thermal properties of the package and its leads, and does not take into account the actual resistance of the resistor (e.g. tested with a 0Ω resistance). Obviously, the actual allowable current is likely to be much less due to resistance.

Designator (metric)	Designator (imperial, EIA)	Max. Current (A)
1005	0402	1
1608	0603	1
2012	0805	2
3216	1206	2
3225	1210	3
5025	2010	3
6432	2512	3

Footprints

Every PCB CAD program worth it’s weight in salt will provide footprints for the standard chip packages in their default libraries.

There are reports that the default 0402 (imperial) footprint that is shipped with Eagle is non-ideal and causes “head-in-pillow” and/or tombstoning. See https://www.worthingtonassembly.com/perfect-0402-footprint for more details³.

Reverse Geometry Chip Capacitors (LICC)

Reverse geometry chip capacitors (named LICC (Low Inductance Chip Capacitor) by Kyocera AVX⁴) have their leads on the long sides of the chip, as opposed to standard chip components which have the leads on the short sides. This reverse geometry reduces the length of the current path through the component and reduces the parasitic inductance of the capacitor (less than 400pH⁵). For applications such as high-speed design, when capacitors are used for noise decoupling, the parasitic inductance needs to be as low as possible to increase the capacitors resonant frequency⁵.

A photo of a reverse geometry chip capacitor from TDKs C series[^tdk-reverse-geometry-mlcc-ds]. — A photo of a reverse geometry chip capacitor from TDKs C series⁶.

They are normally named the same as normal chip capacitors except with the two numbers in reverse order, i.e. an 0603 sized capacitor now becomes a 0306 capacitor.

MEMS Oscillators

Some MEMS oscillators uses chip package sizes, but with extra pins for power and ground. One common package size is 2012 (2.0x1.2mm) which is sometimes used for 32.768kHz crystal oscillators (XTAL):