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RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a nice lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...

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Copper Mountain Technologies (VNA) - RF Cafe

Standard Capacitor Values & Color Codes

HPE Invents 1st Memristor Laser

"Researchers at Hewlett Packard Labs, where the first practical memristor was created, have invented a new variation on the device - a memristor laser. It's a laser that can have its wavelength electronically shifted and, uniquely, hold that adjustment even if the power is turned off. At the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting the researchers..."

Over time, a series of standard capacitor values have evolved, just as with resistors and inductors. Capacitors are available in a huge range of package styles, voltage and current handling capacities, dielectric types, quality factors, and many other parameters. Still, they largely hold to this range of values.

Capacitors are one of the four fundamental types of passive electronic components; the other three are the inductor, the resistor, and the memristor. The basic unit of capacitance is the Farad (F).

In order to obtain other values of capacitance, it is necessary to use parallel and/or series combinations. Often, complex combinations are used in order to satisfy multiple requirements such as handling large voltages while still providing the correct amount of capacitance.

If it is necessary to provide occasional tuning of a circuit, then it is necessary to use a variable capacitor. That can take the form of a manually adjusted capacitor, or an electrically tuned capacitor like a varactor diode (varicap).

Old rectangular or square package capacitor color code table - RF Cafe

Old Capacitor Color Code Chart

Molded Mica Type Capacitors (Centralab)

Old ceramic axial lead package capacitor color code table - RF Cafe

Old Ceramic Axial Lead Capacitor Color Code Chart

These are the most commonly available capacitor values. Tolerances are highly dependent on dielectric and package type.
pF	pF	pF	pF	µF	µF	µF	µF	µF	µF	µF
1.0	10	100	1000	0.01	0.1	1.0	10	100	1000	10,000
1.1	11	110	1100
1.2	12	120	1200
1.3	13	130	1300
1.5	15	150	1500	0.015	0.15	1.5	15	150	1500
1.6	16	160	1600
1.8	18	180	1800
2.0	20	200	2000
2.2	22	220	2200	0.022	0.22	2.2	22	220	2200
2.4	24	240	2400
2.7	27	270	2700
3.0	30	300	3000
3.3	33	330	3300	0.033	0.33	3.3	33	330	3300
3.6	36	360	3600
3.9	39	390	3900
4.3	43	430	4300
4.7	47	470	4700	0.047	0.47	4.7	47	470	4700
5.1	51	510	5100
5.6	56	560	5600
6.2	62	620	6200
6.8	68	680	6800	0.068	0.68	6.8	68	680	6800
7.5	75	750	7500
8.2	82	820	8200
9.1	91	910	9100

Common Capacitor Working Voltages (DC), by Capacitor Type
Ceramic	Electrolytic	Tantalum	Mylar (Polyester)	Mylar (Metal Film)
	10V	10V
16V	16V	16V
		20V
25V	25V	25V
	35V	35V
50V	50V	50V	50V
	63V
100V	100V		100V
	160V
			200V
	250V			250V
	350V
			400V	400V
	450V
600V
				630V
1000V

Related Pages on RF Cafe

- Capacitors & Capacitance Calculations

- Capacitor Color Codes

- Capacitance Conversions

- Capacitor Dielectrics

- Standard Capacitor Values

- Capacitor Vendors

- The Noble Art of De-Coupling

Windfreak Technologies Frequency Synthesizers - RF Cafe

everythingRF RF & Microwave Parts Database - RF Cafe