Resistor SMD

SMD stands for Surface Mounted Device. An SMD is any electronic component that is made to use with SMT, or Surface Mount Technology. SMT was developed to meet the ongoing desire for printed circuit board manufacture to use smaller components and be faster, more efficient, and cheaper.

SMDs are smaller than their traditional counterparts.They are often square, rectangular or oval in shape, with very low profiles. Instead of wire leads that go through the PCB, SMD’s have small leads or pins that are soldered to pads on the surface of the board. This eliminates the need for holes in the board, and lets both sides of the board be more fully used.

The manufacture of PCBs using SMT is similar to that for components with leads.Small pads of silver or gold plate or tin-lead are placed on the board for attaching the components.Solder paste, a mixture of flux and small balls of solder, is then applied to the mounting pads by a machine similar to a computer printer.Once the PCB is prepared, SMDs are placed on it using a machine called a pick-and-place machine.