There are several tolerance marking systems used.
Ceramic capacitor markings 104.
A ceramic capacitor is a fixed value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric it is constructed of two or more alternating layers of ceramic and a metal layer acting as the electrodes the composition of the ceramic material defines the electrical behavior and therefore applications.
One hundred nanofarads capacitance.
The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier.
The first is used with small ceramic capacitors and appears as a single letter.
Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them.
Two of the most common are shown here.
This is a simple online calculator for color band resistor marking inductor color band marking ceramic or tantalum capacitor 3 digit marking and smd resistor 3 digit 4 digit 10 5 2 and eia 96 e96 1 tolerance code marking.
Sometimes figures such as 10n will be seen and this indicates a 10nf capacitor.
Ceramic capacitors are generally smaller than types like electrolytic capacitors and therefore the markings need to be more concise.
Larger capacitors the cylindrical aluminum electrolyte type or the double layer type use units of microfarads uf or µf equal to 10 6 farads.
The 3 digit capacitor code 104 stands for 100 nf in words.
The smallest capacitors made from ceramic film or tantalum use units of picofarads pf equal to 10 12 farads.
In addition to the capacitance value and possibly the working voltage or breakdown voltage the capacitor may be marked by its tolerance.