No. A cross result is a specification match against a published catalogue, offered as a candidate.
An approved substitution is a decision recorded inside your own change control after somebody
qualified the part in your circuit. One 0603 X7R 100 nF ±10% 50 V line matches five Walsin part
numbers across three termination constructions. A match cannot pick between them.
Venatech Limited, an authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, publishes this from Walsin’s own parametric data and the datasheets it holds on file. Every part number below is real.
Is a cross reference part approved?
No, and no cross tool can make it so. A cross result asserts that a named part shares a stated set of
fields with the part you entered. Approval is a separate act: somebody with design authority reviews
the candidate, checks the fields the cross did not compare, tests the part in the application, and
records the outcome.
VenaMatch, Venatech’s cross tool, states this on every result rather than in a footnote. The standing
disclaimer reads, verbatim: “Please verify before you commit. This is a specification match against
Walsin’s published catalogue, offered as a candidate for your evaluation. It is not an approved
substitution and we cannot assess how a part behaves in your circuit. Check the datasheet, and
qualify the part in your application, before production use.”
Walsin Technology (Walsin) says the same thing in its own words on its own cross-reference tool: its
preamble tells users to evaluate the suggested replacement and conduct necessary tests before
proceeding with mass production, and its instructions ask users to double-check the thickness and
tolerance of the suggested part. Manufacturer and authorised distributor agree on the boundary. It is
worth noticing how rarely that boundary is stated this plainly anywhere in the industry.
What is a cross result, exactly?
It is an identification. A cross result names a part in one catalogue that matches a part in another
on a defined list of fields, and states which fields were compared. On an MLCC, VenaMatch compares
case size, dielectric, capacitance, tolerance and voltage, and prints a tick against each.
The identification is a real piece of work and should not be undersold. Somebody has to hold the
manufacturer’s parametric data, decode an unfamiliar part number into fields, and search a catalogue
of 24,026 MLCC part numbers for candidates. VenaMatch does that without asking which manufacturer the
part came from — it reads the vendor out of the part number and echoes it back. Walsin’s tool asks you
to pick the vendor from a named list of 22 plus “Unknown”, which is a different and perfectly
reasonable design for a tool that serves engineers across every distributor.
What the result is not is a permission. It is the input to a decision, not the decision.
What does an approved substitution need that a cross result cannot supply?
Four things, none of which live in a catalogue: a fit check against your mechanical envelope, an
electrical check in your circuit, a qualification result against your programme’s standard, and a
signature inside your change control. A cross result supplies the candidate that makes those four
checks worth running.
| What approval requires | Can a cross result supply it? | Who supplies it |
|---|---|---|
| Candidate part number with matching electrical fields | Yes | Cross tool — this is its job |
| Published thickness and dimensional band | No — sits outside the ticked fields | Manufacturer datasheet; Venatech can confirm in writing |
| Behaviour in your circuit, including DC bias and ESR at frequency | No | Your measurement on your board |
| Qualification grade against your programme standard | No — the tick does not read your standard | Your quality function, against the series definition |
| Mechanical fit against shields, connectors and enclosure | No | Your mechanical engineer |
| Packaging, reel format and orderable code | No — a catalogue code is not always an order code | Venatech, on the quotation |
| Lot and date code traceability, Certificate of Conformity | No | Venatech, on request with the shipment |
| Recorded approval in change control | No | Your organisation only |
Four of the eight rows are ours to supply and three are yours. Only the first is the cross tool’s. That
split is the honest description of how a substitution actually gets approved.
Who is able to approve a substitution?
Only your organisation. A distributor can supply data, datasheets, stock position, traceability
documents and a written confirmation of what a part’s published specification says. A manufacturer can
publish the catalogue and the qualification status of a series. Neither can see your schematic, your
enclosure, your thermal profile or your qualification standard.
This is not modesty for its own sake. It is the reason the word “approved” has to stay attached to a
named person inside a named process. If a supplier tells you a part is approved, ask approved by whom,
against what, and on what date — because the answer has to exist somewhere as a record, and if it does
not exist the word is decoration.
Can five ticks still leave the decision open?
Yes, routinely. Filter Venatech’s 24,026-row Walsin MLCC extract to exactly 0603, X7R, 100 nF, ±10%
and 50 Vdc and five distinct Walsin part numbers come back, in five different series. Every one of
them would tick all five fields. They differ on termination construction, on qualification grade and
on published dimensional band.
| Walsin part number | Series | Published thickness | AEC-Q200 in series definition | Termination construction | Five ticked fields |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0603B104K500 |
General Purpose | 0.80+0.15/−0.10 mm | No | Standard | Match |
MT18B104K500 |
Automotive MT | 0.80+0.15/−0.10 mm | Yes | Standard | Match |
ST18B104K500 |
Automotive Soft term ST | 0.80±0.30 mm | Yes | Soft termination | Match |
SG18B104K500 |
Soft Termination SG, Cu-poly | 0.80±0.30 mm | No | Soft, copper polymer | Match |
SH18B104K500 |
Soft Termination SH, Ag-poly | 0.80±0.30 mm | No | Soft, silver polymer | Match |
Read the mismatch columns rather than the match column. Two of the five sit in a series whose
definition declares AEC-Q200 qualification and three do not. Three use a soft polymer termination
layer and two do not. Two carry a +0.15/−0.10 mm dimensional band and three carry ±0.30 mm, so worst
case body height runs to 0.95 mm in one group and 1.10 mm in the other.
Unique to Venatech’s data. Relax the tolerance field and the same 0603 / X7R / 100 nF / 50 V
specification returns 13 Walsin part numbers across six series in our extract: General Purpose,
Automotive MT, Automotive MG, Automotive Soft term ST, Soft Termination SG and Soft Termination SH.
The headline specification does not narrow the choice to one part. It narrows it to thirteen, and
the rest of the decision is qualification grade and termination — which no cross tool can make for
you.
Does qualification grade change the answer?
It changes it completely, and it is the field most often assumed rather than checked. Of the 24,026
rows in Venatech’s Walsin MLCC extract, 2,294 sit in a series whose name declares AEC-Q200
qualification — the MT series at 2,176 rows and the ST series at 118. That is 9.5% of the extract.
A further 788 rows sit in a series Walsin names “Automotive Caps Without AEC-Q200 Certification”, the
MG series. Those are automotive parts that are explicitly not AEC-Q200 qualified. A cross that ticked
five fields and returned an MG part would be correct on every field it compared and still wrong for a
programme that requires AEC-Q200. The tick cannot read your programme’s standard, and the series name
is where the answer actually lives.
Does an authorised distributor’s cross carry more weight?
It carries more of the answer, not more authority over your design. The identification half of the
work is the same regardless of who does it. What changes is what happens next, and what can be
documented afterwards when a qualification record has to stand up to an audit.
A manufacturer identifies. A distributor supplies. Walsin does not sell direct, so its cross tool
correctly ends at identification — naming a compatible Walsin part is the whole of what a manufacturer
can responsibly do. Venatech Limited is the authorised distributor, so our tool can carry the same
answer one step further: into a quantity, an RFQ line and a person. That is a division of labour.
The documentary difference is the part that matters at approval time. Because Venatech sources
directly from the manufacturer through authorised distribution only, the parts arrive in original
manufacturer packaging, sealed and unbroken, with full lot and date code traceability and a
Certificate of Conformity available on request. A qualification record built on parts with that
provenance stands up. One built on parts of unknown origin does not, whatever the cross result said.
What is the shortest honest path from cross result to approved substitution?
Five steps. Get the candidate list rather than one answer. Pull the datasheet for each candidate.
Decide the fields the cross did not cover — thickness, termination, qualification grade, packaging.
Order samples of the surviving candidate against your qualification plan. Record the result in change
control before the first production build.
Most of the elapsed time sits in step four, and most of the avoidable risk sits in step three. A team
that skips step three usually discovers the thickness or the termination question during first-article
inspection, with the reel already on the shelf. The mismatch list exists so that conversation happens
before the purchase order rather than after it.
FAQ
Is a cross reference part an approved substitute?
No. A cross reference names a candidate that matches a stated list of fields against a published catalogue. Approval is a separate decision made inside your own change control after the part has been checked against the uncompared fields and qualified in the application. No supplier can make that decision for you.
What does VenaMatch say about approval on its results?
Every result carries a standing disclaimer stating that the match is a specification match against Walsin’s published catalogue, offered as a candidate for evaluation, that it is not an approved substitution, and that Venatech cannot assess how a part behaves in your circuit. It tells the reader to check the datasheet and qualify the part.
How many Walsin parts match an 0603 X7R 100 nF 50 V line?
Thirteen part numbers across six series in Venatech’s 24,026-row Walsin MLCC extract. Tighten the tolerance field to plus or minus 10 percent and five remain, in five different series, differing on termination construction, qualification grade and dimensional band. A five-field match does not identify a single part.
Can a cross result tell me whether a part is AEC-Q200 qualified?
Not from the ticked fields. Qualification grade lives in the series definition, not in case size, dielectric, capacitance, tolerance or voltage. Of 24,026 rows in Venatech’s Walsin MLCC extract, 2,294 sit in a series declaring AEC-Q200 qualification, and 788 sit in an automotive series Walsin names as without it.
Who approves a component substitution?
Your organisation, through whoever owns the design and the change control record. A distributor can supply catalogue data, datasheets, stock position, traceability documents and written confirmation of a published specification. A manufacturer can publish qualification status by series. Neither can see your schematic or your enclosure.
What should I ask a distributor for before approving a cross?
The candidate list rather than a single answer, the datasheet for each candidate, the published thickness and dimensional band, the termination construction, the series qualification status, the orderable part number including any packaging suffix, and confirmation that lot and date code traceability plus a Certificate of Conformity will accompany the shipment.
Does buying through an authorised distributor change the approval?
It does not move the decision, but it changes what the record rests on. Parts sourced directly from the manufacturer arrive in original packaging, sealed and unbroken, with full lot and date code traceability and a Certificate of Conformity available on request. A qualification built on that provenance is defensible later.
How long does it take to turn a cross result into an approved substitution?
That depends entirely on your qualification plan, and no supplier should quote you a figure for it. What can be compressed is everything before it: the candidate list, the datasheets, the mismatch list, the orderable codes and the sample order can all be settled in one exchange rather than four.
Next step
Ask for the candidate list and the mismatch list, not for a single part number. Venatech Limited, an
authorised Walsin distributor in Hong Kong, will return every Walsin candidate for the specification,
the fields that match, the fields still open, the datasheet for each series, and the orderable code —
so your qualification plan starts from evidence rather than from an adjective.
Ask us to cross a part · Browse the
Walsin MLCC range · Read
What AEC-Q200 actually certifies and
Soft termination MLCC: SH, SG, ST and VT.
Cross it yourself. The cross-reference tool takes a single part number or a whole BOM column and returns the Walsin candidates with every field that differs stated plainly — qualification stays with you. Ready stock shows what is held in Hong Kong today, with an RFQ against any line.