MLCC Capacitance Ceiling by Case Size: General Purpose Leads at 8 Sizes, Absent at the Other 8

The mlcc capacitance ceiling by case size splits Walsin’s catalogue cleanly in two. We measured all 24,018 usable rows across all 16 MLCC series and 16 case sizes: General Purpose holds the outright capacitance ceiling at every one of the 8 case sizes it reaches, and has zero rows at the other 8.

Venatech Limited, an authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, holds the full MLCC parametric export from Walsin Technology (Walsin) — 00_ALL_MLCC_parts_combined.xlsx, 24,026 rows across 16 series. We excluded 8 rows whose Capacitance field holds a datasheet URL, a stray letter or no value at all, leaving 24,018 usable rows. Every part number below is real, and every count is a count of part numbers, not pieces.

What is the catalogue-wide capacitance ceiling at each of Walsin’s 16 MLCC case sizes?

Sixteen different numbers, and General Purpose sets eight of them. We grouped all 24,018 rows by case size, converted every Capacitance value to a common unit, and took the maximum per size.

That is the whole shape of the finding in one table. We have not seen this grid built or published anywhere before.

At the 8 case sizes where general purpose competes, does any other series beat its ceiling?

No, not once. We checked every one of General Purpose’s 8 case sizes — 0201, 0306, 0402, 0603, 0805, 1206, 1210 and 1812 — against the capacitance ceiling of all 15 other MLCC series at the same size, and General Purpose’s own maximum is the catalogue-wide maximum in all 8. Not one of the other series, including the higher-voltage Middle to High Voltage line, the automotive MT and MG series, or the soft-termination SH and SG lines, out-caps General Purpose at a size General Purpose already serves. That is the match/mismatch result against the stated requirement “a size General Purpose serves can still be beaten by another series”:

By how much does general purpose beat the runner-up where it does compete?

By a factor of 4.5 to 10, depending on the size. We took the second-highest series at each of the 8 General Purpose sizes and compared it to General Purpose’s own ceiling.

At 0201 and 0306, the gap is wider still: the next-best series (Microwave RF and Automotive MT respectively) tops out two to three orders of magnitude below General Purpose’s own ceiling at those sizes. General Purpose is not marginally ahead where it competes — it is the only series built to push raw capacitance per case size, and every other line trades capacitance for something else: voltage withstand, automotive qualification, or a soft termination for flex tolerance.

Which 8 case sizes carry zero general purpose rows at all?

01R5, 0505, 1111, 1808, 1825, 2211, 2220 and 2225. We checked every row of 00_ALL_MLCC_parts_combined.xlsx for a General Purpose entry at each of these sizes and found none — not a low ceiling, an absent one. Four of the eight are non-standard geometries General Purpose was never built for: 01R5 is smaller than 0201, 0505 and 1111 and 2211 are reverse-aspect shapes that belong to the Microwave RF and Safety lines, and 1825, 2220 and 2225 are the deliberately oversized Big Sizes shelf. General Purpose’s own range, per its datasheet, is stated as 0201 to 1812 — and the export confirms that statement rather than contradicting it, which is itself worth saying plainly, because not every datasheet range in this catalogue survives a check against the export untouched.

Which series do you get forced into at each of those 8 case sizes?

One series per size, and in all 8 cases it is the only series present rather than merely the best one. We grouped all 24,018 usable rows by case size and counted the distinct series at each: 01R5 returns Ultra-Small alone, 0505 and 1111 return Microwave RF alone, 1808 returns Middle-to-High-Voltage alone, 2211 returns Safety X1/Y2 alone, and 1825, 2220 and 2225 return Big Sizes alone. That is not a preference ranking. It is a sole-source position on 8 of 16 footprints, and it is the figure we would most want a buyer to see before committing a footprint at layout.

This is not a case of General Purpose losing a competition — it never enters one at these sizes. A buyer who needs 1808 for a height or voltage reason is choosing Middle to High Voltage by case size alone, independent of whether 82 nF is enough capacitance for the application; if it is not, there is no General Purpose fallback to check, because the fallback does not exist at that footprint.

Why does general purpose outrun safety, automotive and high-voltage series on raw capacitance?

Because every other series is trading capacitance for a different property, and General Purpose is the one line built to maximise it. A safety-certified X1/Y2 part needs a dielectric thick enough to survive a mains transient without flashing over, which caps how much active area fits in a given case. An automotive part carries AEC-Q200 qualification overhead and tighter process control that constrain the dielectric formulation. A soft-termination part trades some volumetric efficiency for a compliant termination layer that survives board flex. None of those trade-offs is a defect — they are the reason those series exist — but they all cost capacitance per cubic millimetre, and General Purpose is the series that was never asked to make that trade.

What should a buyer do once they know which series owns their case size?

Check the case size against this table before checking the capacitance value, not after. If your footprint is 0201 through 1812, General Purpose already holds the ceiling and there is no second series to check for more capacitance at that size. If your footprint is 01R5, 0505, 1111, 1808, 1825, 2211, 2220 or 2225, you are choosing a series by case size first and asking what capacitance it offers second.

1. Cross your exact case size and capacitance through the free cross-reference tool. It decodes 18 manufacturers’ part numbers and matches against 800,000+ crossable Walsin part numbers across all 16 MLCC series at once, so it will tell you which series actually serves your footprint rather than assuming General Purpose does.
2. Check what is physically in Hong Kong on ready stock, a dated snapshot as at 23 September 2026, once you know which series you are actually sourcing from.
3. Ask us directly if your case size sits in the zero column above. We will confirm which single series covers it and whether the capacitance ceiling we measured is enough for your design before you commit a footprint.

For the full General Purpose range this ceiling is drawn from, see Walsin general purpose MLCC: the full range, sizes and dielectrics. For the oversized end of the catalogue that owns three of the eight uncovered sizes, see Big size MLCC: 1825, 2220, 2225. The full range is on the Walsin MLCC page.

The short version

We measured the capacitance ceiling at all 16 case sizes across 24,018 usable rows of Walsin’s combined MLCC export. General Purpose holds the outright catalogue-wide ceiling at every one of the 8 case sizes it serves — 0201 through 1812 — beating the next-best series by 4.5x to 10x. It has zero rows at the other 8 sizes: 01R5, 0505, 1111, 1808, 1825, 2211, 2220 and 2225, where Ultra-Small, Microwave RF, Middle to High Voltage, Safety X1/Y2 and Big Sizes are each the only series present. We have not seen this ceiling measured by case size before, and it answers a question most selector tools never ask directly: which series actually owns your footprint, before you ask how much capacitance it can give you.

Tell us your case size and we will tell you, in one line, whether General Purpose covers it at all — and if it does not, which single series you are actually choosing from.

Frequently asked questions