gold/ceramic ICs identification

[redmike5]

Hello everyone,
I have recently come across a bunch of vintage IC chips, as in the attached photographs.
I have tried to find some information about these chips, but being new to this, I have not gotten veryfar.

I suspect that these ICs were made in Singapore in 1979, the 7938 being a date code, and the S logo may be of Simtek.

But this is as far as I got with the identification.

It would be great to get some answers as what these ICs are etc, or even a direction on how to find such information.

Thanks in advance.

[Stray Electron]

  I'm not seeing a picture. Have you checked an old copy of IC Master?

[redmike5]

Apologies. Picture should be visible now.

Also. The manufacturer is more likely to be Synertek.
Simtek wasn't around in 1979.

[iris]

Apologies. Picture should be visible now.

Also. The manufacturer is more likely to be Synertek.
Simtek wasn't around in 1979.

Did Synertek make IC's? From what I know they made semiconductors. I would look around on alldatasheet, I was able to find https://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/124549/SANYO/LA3365.html with a cursory search, but it doesnt seem to be it.

[iris]

Aha! Is this it? It is stamped Thailand instead of Singapore, but it looks similar?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/136223226576?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D295748%2C295511%26meid%3D3c17f8a862e14117aac030676c57c00a%26pid%3D101224%26rk%3D5%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D389232175025%26itm%3D136223226576%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2332490%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebV9BertRefreshRankerWithCassiniEmbRecall&_trksid=p2332490.c101224.m-1

[redmike5]

  I'm not seeing a picture. Have you checked an old copy of IC Master?

Thanks Stray Electron. I have now checked 1979 and 1983 IC Master - the only ones I had access to - and couldn't find any mention of the 2769. Assuming the manufacturer is indeed Synertek, this IC is likely to be custom or military part, as it would seem that this marking convention (XXXX-YYYY) was not normally used by Synertek.

[Benta]

Did Synertek make IC's?

Yes. The very well known 6502 microprocessor plus the VIA (6522) to name a couple.

The IC pictured is most likely a ROM with custom code.

The references to Thailand and Singapore apply to the assembly locations (mounting the die in a housing), not to the wafer fab. Philipines was also a preferred assembly location.

[temperance]

Just use it upside down and you have a 4046 PLL.

[HwAoRrDk]

Aren't ICs marked with part numbers in the format "[4 digits]-[4 digits]" Hewlett-Packard custom part numbers?

[redmike5]

Aren't ICs marked with part numbers in the format "[4 digits]-[4 digits]" Hewlett-Packard custom part numbers?

Synertek didn't mark their COTS products in the [4 digits]-[4 digits] format.

[redmike5]

The IC pictured is most likely a ROM with custom code.

Thanks Benta. I have now had a chance to review Synertek's catalogs from around the time these ICs were manufactured. And it doesn't look like they produced ROMs in CDIP18 package for the normal market. They did however had a few lines of RAMs in these very packages. So, I am wondering why you thought these were ROMs and not RAM chips? Cheers, Mike

[HwAoRrDk]

Synertek didn't mark their COTS products in the [4 digits]-[4 digits] format.

Yes, that was my point: that this isn't an off-the-shelf catalogue part, and that it potentially was produced specially for HP.

Although, now I think about it, nearly all HP part numbers start with "18xx-", so maybe not HP.

[factory]

Aren't ICs marked with part numbers in the format "[4 digits]-[4 digits]" Hewlett-Packard custom part numbers?

HP ICs usually start with 18xx as has already been mentioned, however custom parts might start with 50xx and product specific parts started with five digit numbers.

David

[redmike5]

HP ICs usually start with 18xx as has already been mentioned, however custom parts might start with 50xx and product specific parts started with five digit numbers.
David

Thanks David. I did manage to find a HP custom parts catalog online, but indeed no mention of that particular code.

I think it is unlikely I will ever find out what this chip was for, but still learned quite a bit about identifying ICs here. Cheers, Mike

[amyk]

Open the lid and take some pictures of the die.

[factory]

There is a 1981 Synertek catalog online, the package type is shown towards the end of the catalog, the only 18 pin ICs I can see with a quick scan through the catalog are RAM ICs.

https://deramp.com/downloads/mfe_archive/050-Component%20Specifications/Synertek/1981%20synertek%20data%20catalog.pdf

David

[redmike5]

There is a 1981 Synertek catalog online, the package type is shown towards the end of the catalog, the only 18 pin ICs I can see with a quick scan through the catalog are RAM ICs.

https://deramp.com/downloads/mfe_archive/050-Component%20Specifications/Synertek/1981%20synertek%20data%20catalog.pdf

David

Yep. I have seen this one already - see post #10. Hence I suspect these are RAM chips.