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I'm specifying some SMD chip capacitors for the first time and I note there are several manufacturers out there: muRata, Yageo, Vishay, AVX, Kemet in particular, perhaps others.

Is there any good reason to prefer one of these manufacturers over the others for chip capacitors?

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They all look the same from the pictures, of course, and the prices seem to be quite comparable. Are these just a pure commodity or are there real differences? If there are differences, how would one typically go about discovering them, other than "asking around" like this? :)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ be very careful about buying your MLCC of strange men . I showed an ESR difference of more than 10:1 on the same circuit.This would have meant bad things on PSU application. \$\endgroup\$
    – Autistic
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 1:45
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    \$\begingroup\$ One thing I like with muRata's capacitors is that you can download customized SPICE models for your particular capacitor at your particular DC bias, they probably generate them on they fly from the graphs they measured during the chip design. Now, I don't know how accurate they are, but at least it gives me warm and fuzzy feelings when they go to such lengths. \$\endgroup\$
    – pipe
    Commented Dec 3, 2015 at 3:55
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, I use Murata because they have SimSurfer and you can easily look at all the impedance and DC-bias curves. \$\endgroup\$
    – DKNguyen
    Commented Apr 16, 2019 at 14:28

2 Answers 2

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In the good old days, with low k dielectrics like NP0 and X7R, you could well have expected caps to be reasonably interchangable. In low value, <100nF ballpark, this is probably still the case.

Now, with new high k X5R and Y5U types, which are pushing capacitance per volume to eye-watering densities, and temperature and voltage coefficients exploring the worst the market will accept, things are different. The dielectric code, X7R for instance, defines the temperature coefficient, not the voltage coefficient. A Y5U from two different manufacturers might have two different voltage coefficients. A Y5U range of capacitors in the same range from the same manufacturer might have caps with the same value with different voltage coefficients in different package sizes, as they try to cram a given value into a given package or voltage rating.

If a parameter matters to you, test it. If the capacitance stability matters to you, get the manufacturer's voltage and temperature coefficient specification for that cap value, voltage and package size as well. If they don't make this available, don't use that manufacturer.

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There are differences when you get super-picky (high reliability, high precision, automotive, military, medical; each manufacturer has many lines for these applications) but generally they're interchangeable. The dielectric ratings are standardized, so I usually try to go with the lowest-cost for the desired rating.

If you have a particular problem with breakage or microphonics or something, it may be time to consider alternatives..

Edit: This is among well-known vendors. I don't mess around in the no-name stuff.

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