page_title: Ceramic capacitor
section_title: MLCC capacitance ranges
hierarchical_section_title: Ceramic capacitor / Construction and styles / Multi-layer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) / MLCC capacitance ranges
context_page_description: 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. Ceramic capacitors are divided into two application classes:
  Class 1 ceramic capacitors offer high stability and low losses for resonant circuit applications.
  Class 2 ceramic capacitors offer high volumetric efficiency for buffer, by-pass, and coupling applications.
  Ceramic capacitors, especially multilayer ceramic capacitors, are the most produced and used capacitors in electronic equipment that incorporate approximately one trillion pieces per year.
  Ceramic capacitors of special shapes and styles are used as capacitors for RFI/EMI suppression, as feed-through capacitors and in larger dimensions as power capacitors for transmitters.
context_section_description: Capacitance of MLCC chips depends on the dielectric, the size and the required voltage (rated voltage). Capacitance values start at about 1pF. The maximum capacitance value is determined by the production technique. For X7R that is 47 µF, for Y5V: 100 µF.
  The picture right shows the maximum capacitance for class 1 and class 2 multilayer ceramic chip capacitors. The following two tables, for ceramics NP0/C0G and X7R each, list for each common case size the maximum available capacitance value and rated voltage of the leading manufacturers Murata, TDK, KEMET, AVX. (Status April 2017)
caption: Maximal available capacitance values of MLCC Chips in case size 2012. (Status April 2017)
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