Technical Articles
Resistor Sizes and Packages
Date:2019-10-08

Resistors are available in a large amount of different packages. Nowadays the most used are the rectangular surface mount resistors. This page will inform you about the dimensions of SMD and  the required land patterns for SMD components.

The shape and size of surface mount resistors are standardized, most manufacturers use the JEDEC standards. The size of SMD resistors is indicated by a numerical code, such as 0603. This code contains the width and height of the package. So in the example of 0603 Imperial code, this indicates a length of 0.060″ and a width of 0.030″. This code can be given in Imperial or Metric units, in general the Imperial code is used more often to indicate the package size. On the contrary in modern PCB design metric units (mm) are more often used, this can be confusing. In general you can assume the code is in imperial units, but the dimensions used are in mm. The SMD resistor size depends mainly on the required power rating. The following table lists the dimensions and specifications of commonly used surface mount packages.


When designing with surface mount components the right solder pad size and land pattern should be used. The following table shows an indication of the land pattern for common surface mount packages. The table lists the dimensions for reflow soldering, for wave soldering smaller pads are used.


Microhm tight size shunt resistor MMS0603 and MMS0805 are also SMD resistors. The above size and solder pad size are also suitable for them.