MLCC Height Limit in Stock in Hong Kong: 531 of 714 Lines Clear 1.00 mm by Nominal Thickness, but Only 504 by Maximum

An MLCC height limit in stock is decided by the maximum, not the nominal. Of 714 stocked Hong Kong lines with one published thickness, 531 clear 1.00 mm on nominal and 504 on nominal plus tolerance. At 0.5 mm the gap is wider: 247 lines by nominal, 99 by maximum.

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Venatech Limited, an authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, publishes a ready-stock list dated 23 September 2026. This post is written from that list joined to the combined MLCC export from Walsin Technology (Walsin): 24,026 rows, each with a Thickness field written as a nominal and a tolerance. We read the field as text, split it into a nominal and an upper limit, and counted what the shelf offers at each case size. Every part number below is real. Part-number counts only, never piece counts.

How many stocked MLCC lines clear a 1.00 mm height limit?

531 of 714 clear it on nominal thickness, which is 74.4 percent, and 504 clear it on maximum thickness, 70.6 percent. We parsed all 24,026 export rows and joined the 864 stocked MLCC-line codes; 762 resolve, and 714 of those resolve to exactly one row, so one thickness can be read without guessing. Twenty-seven lines pass on nominal and fail on maximum: 1 at 0603, 7 at 1206 and 19 at 1210.

The 48 codes that resolve to several rows, each with a different thickness, are left out of every count here. They are the subject of our post on the customized flag on the shelf, and a height limit cannot be applied to a code that names two heights.

Case size	Stocked lines (one row)	Published thickness	Upper limit	Lines	Your incumbent part’s height	Match / mismatch against a 1.00 mm limit
0603	154	0.80 plus or minus 0.07 mm (e.g. 0603B101J500)	0.87 mm	110		Match
0603		0.80 plus 0.15 minus 0.10 mm (e.g. 0603B104M500)	0.95 mm	38		Match, narrowly
0603		0.80 plus or minus 0.20 mm (5 lines)	1.00 mm	5		Match, exactly at the limit
0603		0.80 plus or minus 0.30 mm (SH18B104K500)	1.10 mm	1		Mismatch on maximum, match on nominal
1206	85	0.95 plus or minus 0.10 mm (e.g. 1206B184K500)	1.05 mm	7		Mismatch on maximum, match on nominal
1210	43	0.95 plus or minus 0.10 mm (e.g. 1210B184K500)	1.05 mm	19		Mismatch on maximum, match on nominal
1210		2.50 plus or minus 0.30 mm (e.g. 1210B475K500)	2.80 mm	3		Mismatch on both

Fill in the empty column from your own drawing. The datasheet outline for the series is the document to qualify the height against; we hold it for all 16 series in the export.

Which case sizes on the shelf offer only one thickness?

Three, and they hold more than half the shelf. 0201 holds 99 lines all at 0.30 mm nominal, 0402 holds 148 at 0.50 mm and 0603 holds 154 at 0.80 mm: 401 of 714 lines, 56.2 percent, in three case sizes that each offer one nominal thickness. We counted them cell by cell. We have not seen this counted anywhere.

A single thickness is a convenience if it fits and a dead end if it does not. At 0805 the shelf is the opposite: 130 lines spread over four nominal thicknesses, 0.60 mm (22 lines), 0.80 mm (45), 0.85 mm (5) and 1.25 mm (58). The 0.85 mm lines at 0805 are all Microwave RF parts such as RF21N2R7B251, so a design that needs 0.80 mm or thinner at 0805 has 67 lines to choose from, not 130. For the sizes themselves, see MLCC capacitance by case size.

Case size	Stocked lines	Nominal thicknesses on the shelf	Nominal thicknesses in the export	Match / mismatch against the export
0201	99	1	1	Match
0402	148	1	3	Mismatch — export also holds 0.30 and 0.40 mm
0603	154	1	2	Mismatch — export also holds 0.50 mm
0805	130	4	4	Match
1206	85	5	6	Mismatch — export also holds 0.85 mm
1210	43	5	6	Mismatch — export also holds 0.85 mm
1808	13	2	4	Mismatch — 1.40 and 1.60 mm unstocked
1812	40	3	6	Mismatch — 1.60, 2.80 and 3.10 mm unstocked
2220	2	2	5	Mismatch — three thicknesses unstocked

Which thickness cells does the shelf leave empty?

13 of 37. We built a grid of case size against nominal thickness from every export row at the nine sizes on the shelf, which gave 37 populated cells, and the shelf fills 24 of them and leaves 13 empty, holding 153 export part numbers between them. The empty cells are rare thicknesses, not common ones, which is why a shelf can look complete and still miss your height.

The largest empty cells are 2220 at 2.80 mm with 41 export parts, 1808 at 1.60 mm with 27, 0603 at 0.50 mm with 19, 1206 at 0.85 mm with 18 and 1812 at 1.60 mm with 17. The 0603 cell matters most to a thin design: it is the thinnest 0603 Walsin publishes, and its 19 parts come from two series, 17 Microwave RF (RF18N0R1A251) and 2 Low Profile (TT18X105K160, TT18X475K100). None is on the shelf. Every one of the 154 stocked 0603 lines is a 0.80 mm part.

What happens to a 0.5 mm limit on the shelf?

It collapses to the smallest case size. 247 stocked lines have a nominal thickness of 0.50 mm or less, and 99 have a maximum of 0.50 mm or less: all 99 are 0201 lines. Every one of the 148 stocked 0402 lines is nominally 0.50 mm, and the commonest band is plus or minus 0.05 mm (141 lines), which gives a maximum of 0.55 mm.

Limit	Lines clearing it by nominal	Lines clearing it by maximum	Lines lost	Match / mismatch
1.00 mm	531	504	27	Mismatch — 5.1% of the nominal passes fail
0.80 mm	500	269	231	Mismatch — 46.2% of the nominal passes fail
0.50 mm	247	99	148	Mismatch — 59.9% of the nominal passes fail

The 0.80 mm row is the one to read twice. 231 of 500 lines look like they clear 0.80 mm and do not once the tolerance is added, because all 154 stocked 0603 lines, 45 lines at 0805 and 32 at 1206 sit at 0.80 mm nominal with a positive tolerance, so their maximum is above 0.80 mm. A selector that filters on the nominal will show you the line. A drawing that says “0.80 mm maximum” will reject it.

How should a height limit be written on a BOM line?

As a maximum, with the series named. Write the height limit as an upper bound in millimetres, and check it against nominal plus tolerance: that single change moves 27 lines at 1.00 mm, 231 at 0.80 mm and 148 at 0.50 mm. A nominal on a BOM line invites exactly the substitution that fails a clearance check at assembly.

1. State the limit as a maximum. “0.80 mm max” is checkable. “0.8 mm” is not.
2. Read the thickness off the series datasheet outline, not only the export. We hold 28 Walsin datasheets, 451 pages, and send them on request.
3. Ask which thickness is on the reel for any code that resolves to more than one row.

Paste your list into the free cross-reference tool and check it against ready stock, a dated snapshot and not a live feed. The capacitor range is on the MLCC products page.

The short version

We joined 864 stocked capacitor codes to Walsin’s export and kept the 714 that resolve to one row. 531 clear 1.00 mm on nominal and 504 on maximum; 247 clear 0.50 mm on nominal and 99 on maximum, all 99 at 0201. Three case sizes hold 401 lines at one thickness each. The shelf fills 24 of 37 case-size and thickness cells and leaves 153 export part numbers in the other 13, including the 19 thin 0603 parts. The thickness in the export is a nominal with a tolerance; the limit on your drawing is a maximum. Qualification stays with you, so confirm against both datasheets and qualify in your own circuit.

Send us the capacitor lines off your BOM with the maximum height beside each, and we will tell you which are on the shelf and which export thickness they resolve to. And a question back: is the height on your drawing a nominal, or the number your assembler will measure?

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Frequently asked questions

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