A surface mount capacitor (10) and method for making the same. A solid slug or pellet anode body (1) is encapsulated in a case (6) of insulating material. An anode and cathode termination pair (2, 3) are formed with surface mount mounting portions on one side of the case (6). An electrical connection (4) is made from the cathode termination (2) to a cathode on pellet (1) through the case (6). An electrical connection (7) is made between an anode associated with the pellet (1) and the anode termination (3) externally of the case (6). The external connection (7) allows improved volumetric efficiency by freeing up space in the case (6) for a bigger pellet (1). The method includes mass producing these capacitors (10) by mounting a plurality of pellets (1) on a lead frame (11) with pre-formed anode/cathode termination pairs (2, 3), at least substantially encapsulating the plurality of mounted pellets (1) and each pellet's associated anode and cathode, singulating the encapsulated pellets (1) to expose a portion of the pellet anode, and applying the electrical external conductive path (7) between pellet anode and anode termination (3).