Chips in colours other than black? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:12:16 pm
content: Worldsemi make some of their LED drivers in white packages.Apart from optoisolators, ever seen any other non-black chips?

author: MLXXXp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:17:38 pm
content: Look at my avatar.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:18:34 pm
content: In the past Japanese TO-220 and TO-126 transistors were quite common in green color.

author: elecman14
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:21:01 pm
content: The early ceramic chips were white, gray or "zebra" style. Have a part more than likely from a 5000 or 7000 series Tektronix scope that is marked 16-2-152 with a 1983 date code that has a blue body.

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:23:19 pm
content: Do they have to be ICs in order to count?Bourns do a line of resistor networks in DIP format, rendered in a lovely 'Caramac' brown.

author: krish2487
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:24:21 pm
content: https://www.mornsun-power.com/html/products/62/igbt-driver.htmlMornsun make IGBT drivers (SIP) in a rather eye catching blue color which are a copy of M57962 IGBT driver from Mitsubishi which came in a shade of yellow..Though, they are actually epoxy coated ceramic PCBs rather than the traditional IC packages that you are thinking of...

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:34:10 pm
content: I have some blue DIL16 pins with 8 resitors inside. Resistors array are sometimes potted in yellow/mustard glossy.Russian 2K EEPROM used to come in white ceramic with golden traces and a quartz window.Western EEPROM chips were usually brown.Military TTL are sometimes as a sandwich of brown-white-brown ceramic layers, with the terminals plane in the white layer.

author: NE666
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:35:23 pm
content: Quote from: elecman14 on February 20, 2025, 04:21:01 pmAn HP "Nanoprocessor", c. 1970From my 'work in progress' HP 3325A restoration project. The smiley face probably isn't an original chip marking..

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 04:42:16 pm
content: Old Soviet ICs were often different shades of brown. It looks like the general trend here is that old stuff was strange until we figured out what works and stick to it.

author: MLXXXp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 05:51:23 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on February 20, 2025, 04:34:10 pmNot only Russian ceramic chips.The 8080 microprocessor and 8308 8K masked ROM in my Poly 88 PC:

author: ozcar
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 06:37:36 pm
content: This must be around 50 years old.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 06:44:58 pm
content: Ceramic packaged chips have been produced in quite a wide range of colours. At one time quite a lot of plastic packages were grey. They need to make the plastic optically opaque, as light affects performance, but they want to do that at the lowest cost. I think that usually leads to some kind of grey or black.

author: globoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2025, 06:56:35 pm
content: Purple too!

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 06:24:18 am
content: Quote from: wraper on February 20, 2025, 04:18:34 pmI have green and blue TO220 transistors and i'm looking for red, to finish my collection.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 06:27:24 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on February 20, 2025, 04:42:16 pmMy guess is making them all black would cover up any inconsistencies in the color and make the IC's look nicer, hence why they're all pitch black now mostly.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 06:33:08 am
content: Quote from: MLXXXp on February 20, 2025, 04:17:38 pmIf i remember right, the first clear IC i ever saw was the sensor from an old broken optical mouse back when i was a kiddo.Back then it was the coolest thing, because you could actually see what's inside the IC and all the bondwires going to the silicon die.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 06:33:50 am
content: I think most are black because (at least in theory) black is the best at radiating the heat away.

author: Berni
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 06:41:26 am
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on February 20, 2025, 04:12:16 pmThat is a interesting choice. Are they white so that they blend in to the white PCBs? (that tend to help bounce more of the LED light out)

author: JohanH
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 07:23:03 am
content: Omron solid state relays.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 07:50:23 am
content: This is a mix of reasons. The packaging must be as opaque to external light as possible. Heat radiation may be a factor but for plastic packages, black is usually the cheapest while being a good fit so that makes it a default choice. This is usually epoxy resins that come cheaper in black than another opaque color. Ceramic packages do/did come in more varied colors.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 10:27:06 am
content: Some military chips were made with presumably a gold plated case. So I guess you could call them gold in colour.e.g.:https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/1/0216/12/vintage-military-computer-gold-flat_1_4bb2cbcad56d33e3af723f5a6e092c9e.jpg

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 10:53:01 am
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on February 21, 2025, 06:33:50 amI would think they’re black first and foremost because to block light, to which most semiconductors are sensitive to some degree.With modern “chip scale packages” (where you solder the basically-naked chip directly onto the board), light sensitivity is a real-world problem, like with the Raspberry Pi 2, which would crash if you took a flash photo of it.For sure, opacity can be achieved with colors other than black, but it’s just likely the easiest and cheapest. Heat radiation is certainly welcome, but I’m guessing not the primary concern, given that heat is also conducted away through the leads/pads.

author: Ranayna
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 11:26:53 am
content: Quote from: ozcar on February 20, 2025, 06:37:36 pmI have seen pictures of "security chips" in gambling machines that were bright red, similar to your picture.Opto-isolators and solid state relays were already posted. These are common in non-black, for whatever reason.And resistor networks in DIP or SIP packages were often bright yellow, if you want to include those.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 11:30:23 am
content: Quote from: tooki on February 21, 2025, 10:53:01 amAlso, cheap to standardise on one colour.See also, why are most PCB soldermasks green? Because most PCB soldermasks are green. There isn't really a good reason, other colours also work, but the industry has found that to be the cheapest colour, and the economies of scale have brought those costs down, and equipment like AOI has been optimised to work on it, and engineers just expect it.

author: kosine
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 11:33:16 am
content: Not sure about MLXXXp's transparent chip, but Motorola produced a similar set with Edinburgh University for teaching purposes back in the mid 90s. They used a large process node, so they're not functionally very useful, but interesting to play with. ()Very little information online about them, and I doubt you can easily obtain them any more. The university lecturer behind the project kindly sent me the datasheet a few years ago.Motorola Edinburgh University Semiconductor Teaching Chip Set Data_sheet.pdf(983.18 kB - downloaded 43 times.)

author: jonpaul
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 01:18:27 pm
content: The black IC colr is due to a high solids filler , epoxy resin.The balck has better thermal and expnasion characteristics than colord.Due to volume of parts less costly.j

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 01:55:39 pm
content: Quote from: Ranayna on February 21, 2025, 11:26:53 amI have (or had) one of these chips from an old Japanese slot machine.It's red and the epoxy is cast in a 'bow tie' shape.I bet it is to provide easy visual indication of tampering. It also had a holographic foil tamper evident sticker across it to the PCB and the whole PCB was encased in a clear box with custom tamperproof screws and more stickers.I assume it held all the randomisation and payout calculation logic.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 07:36:37 pm
content: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/why-are-most-semiconductor-cases-black/msg1646783/#msg1646783

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 07:45:34 pm
content: I wonder how much extra it cost to have that oddly shaped pink plastic moulding? In my experience choosing anything but one of the stock packaging options needs some serious cost justification.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 08:12:23 pm
content: Here's an odd combo.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 08:19:39 pm
content: Quote from: BrianHG on February 21, 2025, 08:12:23 pmThat was quite the fashion for a little while. There was a real struggle for how to make a device for code development work, where the chip was really developed for masking. I used a Philips DSP where they made a version breaking out the entire program memory buses to a large PGA (144 pin, I think), when the final product chip was a little 68 pin PLCC. That made testing, and EMI/EMC qualifying the PCB ahead of the masked parts a huge PITA. Just before it became practical to make two related dies, with masked ROM at the edge of one die, and EPROM stretching that edge of the other die out, these EPROM plugging into a bonded out mask parts arrangements become popular.Interesting that you found an F8 part, since that popped up in another thread a few days ago.

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2025, 08:34:26 pm
content: 1N4148 and similar glass enclosed diodes are enclosed in a low melting point glass frit with Dumet Leads (COE 80) or a higher melting point glass frit with Kovar Leads (COE 52). There are other variations of glass and metal used.Since the glass diodes are clear, you might see a little IR emission, similar to an LED, depending on the type of part.Reed Switch glass or RF transponder tag glass is green or grey because the coloring dopant adsorbs near IR light and/or 1064 nm Laser Light to allow melting and sealing without a torch flame. Said dopant ion will tend to have some adsorption in the visible by co-incidence. Often it's Iron, so a green tint like old Glass Coke Bottles. This method allows for the switch to have zero contact oxidation, and to be sealed with an inert gas without a fill stem.EDIT added pic.[ Specified attachment is not available ]Steve

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 12:32:17 am
content: Quote from: BrianHG on February 21, 2025, 07:36:37 pmFound this thread:https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/unusual-ic.1245604/It appears to be a ROM chip (which the reference number would also suggest, so probably a 64Kbit / 200ns access time ROM) from a gambling machine of some sort.Not sure what the shape & color are for other than marketing. But surely those machines were very expensive so the cost of one IC would not matter much.

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 02:02:08 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on February 22, 2025, 12:32:17 amI would guess ease of inspection. If you use a regular ROM, anyone can swap it for another one. This funky shape requires a lot more effort to fake.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 03:42:23 am
content: I remember a similar package (strange shape and flashy color) used for some cryptographic grade chips, random generators and/or key generators, something like this.

author: Canis Dirus Leidy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 09:16:27 am
content: Old "Kulon"-type packages (Which were used for the237 series hybrid ICs). They were usually the dirty white color of unpainted plastic, but there were also painted ones:

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 09:17:49 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on February 22, 2025, 02:02:08 amYes, protecting against counterfeiting seems likely.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 11:44:11 am
content: A few colorful packages attached.The blue DIL16 are 8x33ohms resistors, the other blue ones are delay lines. The Motorola 6803 MCU is ceramic, not that grey as in this picture, it is more magenta. That brown glossy plastic-like was common in many Russian ICs. The other brown-white-brown layers is ceramic, the two smaller chips are Russian 74LS74, and the Mitsubishi EPROM also has a layer of white-grey in the middle.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 12:18:52 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on February 22, 2025, 09:17:49 amI would imagine that national regulations may come into it. In the UK for instance, fixed-odds betting terminals ("one-armed bandits" to you and me) have to display the return to player figure prominently, and this must be a truthful representation. A modified 'ROM' could allow these odds to be changed without the user being aware. Not that the average punter looks at the RTP and actually decides whether to bet or not...Nowadays, the application processor will probably just not be allowed to load unsigned code, so the protection can be implemented entirely in software.

author: Canis Dirus Leidy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 12:53:42 pm
content: Oreo-styled package (fromhere):Typical packages for224-series ICs:

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 04:19:40 pm
content: Quote from: BrianHG on February 21, 2025, 07:36:37 pmAh that's the one! I forgot I took a photo.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2025, 09:11:31 pm
content: Indeed the ceramic packages came in all kinds of brown, white and purple color.Just checked my collection, found two plastic silver coated onesAlso the color of the text on ic's, found this one with blue text, don't see that one every day, from Italy, really fashionable

author: DonKu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 06:26:50 am
content: Does a DIP resistor network count?

author: 5U4GB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 09:55:26 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on February 21, 2025, 07:50:23 amI wonder if the brown Soviet ones were that colour because they used some compound that Russia had a ton of but other countries didn't? In other words their cheap opaque heat conductor was brown-coloured rather than black-coloured? "Soviet method is more economical".

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 03:33:25 pm
content: Quote from: DonKu on February 23, 2025, 06:26:50 amNot really. The need for high opacity doesn't come into play for non-semiconductor parts. All they need is something cheap.

author: MLXXXp
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 04:02:50 pm
content: Quote from: kosine on February 21, 2025, 11:33:16 amThe one I posted about is a Sprague ULN-2232A from around 1978. The reason the case is transparent is that the large black square is a photodiode used for optical motion detection. It was originally designed for use in an electronic (likely robot) toy.A bit more information can be found in previous posts of mine:https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/unusual-clear-dip-package/msg377076/#msg377076https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/unusual-clear-dip-package/msg3566013/#msg3566013

author: ataradov
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 04:13:03 pm
content: Quote from: 5U4GB on February 23, 2025, 09:55:26 amI doubt it. I looked though the state standards I could find with a quick search and none of them define the color. They only talk in terms of functionality and environmental resistance. It is likely that details were up to the industry standards or even engineers at the individual factory. That would also explain color variations. And when you don't have exposure to a lot of examples from the outside, you will come up with non-standard stuff.It is possible that in order to get black color they had to add a lot of die and it affected mechanical properties.And as far as color goes, KT315 and KT361 transistors win. Those were available in yellow, orange, green, red, brown. And the package itself is pretty unique.

author: DonKu
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2025, 04:55:06 pm
content: Quote from: NE666 on February 20, 2025, 04:23:19 pmSomehow your earlier post was overlooked by me. While not a chip from the most precisely punctilious perspective, resistor networks do indeed package separate components together into a handy package.

author: Canis Dirus Leidy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2025, 03:02:49 am
content: Quote from: ataradov on February 23, 2025, 04:13:03 pmAs an example. The Fryazino plant used the same plastic as for the KT315 to package its diode assemblies (plus two burgundy ICs, it seems to be from the "Gamma" plant):(image source)

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2025, 03:25:53 am
content: Quote from: tom66 on February 22, 2025, 12:18:52 pmI wonder if modern gambling machines are connected to a LAN or even to the Internet?That should be "interesting" in terms of security.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 24, 2025, 10:58:38 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on February 24, 2025, 03:25:53 amGiven many of them have credit card terminals, I wouldn't be surprised if they are. However, it's generally the rule that large payouts have to be authorised by a member of staff.

author: LaserSteve
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 03, 2025, 05:19:13 pm
content: I used to see a lot of these in Red, Blue, and sometimes Green, rarely white. . Red colors are usually a PITA for plastics molders, and no rhyme or reason for colored sockets.Steve

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2025, 12:39:06 pm
content: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/EZGzHZNptIU

author: benj38
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 04, 2025, 05:07:59 pm
content: Here are some samples from my bin