Hi Mary, I'd have to assume that the caps that are cracking are ceramic chip caps, and likely 0805 or larger. I'd also bet you that the caps are near the edge of a board (vgroove? perforations? shear?) or at another boundary at depanelization. or: They're near a connector that requires a deal of force to insert or withdraw or: They're being flexed in test/burn in, etc. or: They're near a location where something's eyeletted or riveted. or.... You've got some thermal shock conditions at wave/reflow or (you get the picture) After many years years of working ceramic caps failures (among many others :-) ), the the VAST majority (>95%) failed due to strain/stress being induced in some step of the board mfg process.... mostly depanelization and/or test. Rgds John Square D Component Engineering --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DesignerCouncil Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF DesignerCouncil. To set a vacation stop for delivery of DesignerCouncil send: SET DesignerCouncil NOMAIL Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------