Our materials and component Engineers encourage us NOT to use chip resistor networks
but we do use alot of capacitor arrays.  The reason Is availability unless you buy by the thousands monthly.

Greg Scott
Cray Inc.

"Stephen R. Gregory" wrote:

Hi Glenn!

I've read the responses you've received to your question (they've all been
good), and want to ask another question...

I assume the reason to use smaller passive components, is to reduce the real
estate needed by these components. My question is; why isn't there more use
of chip resistor networks and capacitor arrays?

To me, it seems obvious that the use of these components will reduce real
estate, but I don't see them being used as often as they could be...maybe I'm
not aware of the electrical characteristics or something else, but I wonder
why they aren't used more often in designs that are tight for space than what
I've seen so far...

Can anybody shed some light on this?

-Steve Gregory-
 
 

Hi all,
       I'm brainstorming on risks and benefits of 0603 caps vs 0402 caps.
If the cap value, voltage rating, dielectric material, terminations, and
use conditions are the same, would one be better than the other?  My
thoughts are it would be a wash or at least not significant.  Here's what I
have so far:
Benefits of 0402 vs 0603:
Smaller size reduces thermal stress/strain on solder joints from CTE or
board flexing.
Smaller size uses less real estate on board
Risks of 0402 vs 0603:
Equipment may have difficulty placing
Thinner dielectric spacing to achieve same capacitance, cap higher failure
rate
Smaller size, cracks easier to develop
Higher risk of tombstoning
       What do you all think?  I'm sure I missed something, maybe even
wrong on some of the above.
Thanks,
Glenn