Resistors

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Resistors

Resistors are among the most common passive components found in electrical and electronic circuits, along with capacitors and inductors. They are primarily used to control current, establish voltage levels, and protect other circuit components.

Resistors are electrical components designed to resist and limit the flow of current through a circuit. They can also be used to create specific voltage levels for active components. Resistors are available with either fixed or variable resistance values. Fixed resistors maintain a constant resistance, while variable resistors, including potentiometers, allow the resistance value to be adjusted.

Resistance is measured in Ohms (Ω). The materials, construction, and design of a resistor determine its electrical characteristics and resistance value. Resistors are commonly manufactured using materials such as metal, carbon, and specialized resistive films. They are available in a wide variety of package and mounting styles, with through-hole and surface-mount packages being among the most widely used.

A broad selection of resistor technologies is available from leading manufacturers, supporting applications ranging from general-purpose electronics to high-power, high-voltage, precision, and high-frequency designs.

Available resistor technologies include aluminium-housed high-power resistors, bare-element resistors, precision power wirewound resistors, wirewound SMD resistors, axial thin-film resistors, silicon-coated resistors, precision passivated chip resistors, and resistor networks and packs. Typical applications include traction systems, snubber circuits, switched-mode power supplies, pulse applications, and high-frequency circuits requiring non-inductive resistor designs.

Ohm’s Law Calculator

Ohm's Law calculator

Calculate voltage, current, resistance, and power using Ohm’s Law and the relationships between these electrical quantities.

SMD Resistor Sizes

The size of an SMD resistor is commonly identified using a numerical code such as 0603. The code indicates the approximate package length and width. For example, the 0603 Imperial package has an approximate length of 0.060 inch and a width of 0.030 inch.

Code	Length (l)	Width (w)	Height (h)	Power
Imperial	Metric	inch	mm	inch	mm	inch	mm	Watt
0201	0603	0.024	0.6	0.012	0.3	0.01	0.25	1/20 (0.05)
0402	1005	0.04	1.0	0.02	0.5	0.014	0.35	1/16 (0.062)
0603	1608	0.06	1.55	0.03	0.85	0.018	0.45	1/10 (0.10)
0805	2012	0.08	2.0	0.05	1.2	0.018	0.45	1/8 (0.125)
1206	3216	0.12	3.2	0.06	1.6	0.022	0.55	1/4 (0.25)
1210	3225	0.12	3.2	0.10	2.5	0.022	0.55	1/2 (0.50)
1218	3246	0.12	3.2	0.18	4.6	0.022	0.55	1
2010	5025	0.20	5.0	0.10	2.5	0.024	0.6	3/4 (0.75)
2512	6332	0.25	6.3	0.12	3.2	0.024	0.6	1

Solder Pad Land Pattern

Code	Pad length (a)	Pad width (b)	Gap (c)
Imperial	Metric	inch	mm	inch	mm	inch	mm
0201	0603	0.012	0.3	0.012	0.3	0.012	0.3
0402	1005	0.024	0.6	0.020	0.5	0.020	0.5
0603	1608	0.035	0.9	0.024	0.6	0.035	0.9
0805	2012	0.051	1.3	0.028	0.7	0.047	1.2
1206	3216	0.063	1.6	0.035	0.9	0.079	2.0
1218	3246	0.19	4.8	0.035	0.9	0.079	2.0
2010	5025	0.11	2.8	0.059	0.9	0.15	3.8
2512	6332	0.14	3.5	0.063	1.6	0.15	3.8