Very Old Components I Can Not Identify.

[HellasTechn]

Happy New Year everyone !

After digging into a box filled with old stuff i came across many chips inside their original packing that i have no idea what they are or what they do. I have googled their markings and came up empty. I have even looked them up on e-bay but no luck there either. They probably date back to 70's or early 80's. Here are some pictures of them.

Hope someone has seen them before and know anything about them.

 

[Minder]

The ones shown in the 001.jpg, do they register with a meter across opposite leads of the IC?
are they identical component packs of diodes or resistors etc?
M.

 

[OBW0549]

After digging into a box filled with old stuff i came across many chips inside their original packing that i have no idea what they are or what they do. I have googled their markings and came up empty. I have even looked them up on e-bay but no luck there either. They probably date back to 70's or early 80's.

Oh, my, those are OLD. I recall seeing those in use before the Chicxulub asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs (who, by that time, were about the only folks still using those things), but the data sheets were probably lost in the ensuing inferno and it's unlikely any record remains of them.

Seriously, those chips could be just about anything, analog or digital; those "flatpack" packages were common in mil/aerospace equipment, if I remember correctly.

 

[HellasTechn]

The ones shown in the 001.jpg, do they register with a meter across opposite leads of the IC?
are they identical component packs of diodes or resistors etc?
M.

I am not sure. I will open a pack and check.

 

[HellasTechn]

Seriously, those chips could be just about anything

Yes true.

those "flatpack" packages were common in mil/aerospace equipment, if I remember correctly.

Yes that is also true. I have seen similar on us navy ships.

 

[Jagatha]

I googled "GaAs MMIC components" and found some similar components but not sure the same
like this one HMC346G8.

 

[shrtrnd]

Like OBW0549, I'm old enough to remember them as what we called 'flatpack' packages; primarily for milspec applications.
I don't recognize any of the markings on them. Odds are, most if not all of them are integrated circuits.
Other than Googleing them under 'flatpacks', I don't know who would have a cross reference to identify exactly
what they are.
If this was me, I'd start with trying to ID them through mfgr logo on the ones that have them.
Frankly, the ones I have, do actually list the IC part number on them. I don't know why yours have proprietary
markings on them.

 

[davenn]

Frankly, the ones I have, do actually list the IC part number on them. I don't know why yours have proprietary
markings on them.

most likely because they were made for a specific customer to their specifications

 

[HellasTechn]

Frankly, the ones I have, do actually list the IC part number on them. I don't know why yours have proprietary
markings on them.

most likely because they were made for a specific customer to their specifications

I beleave they are Milspec chips and probably intentionally marked like that in order not to be idintified.
I guess, whoever the manufacturer is, must have or had a reference list for them.
To be honest i dont even know how theese chips got to my possesion. My father had them in that box for like 20 years or more. He does not remember where they came from either.

 

[Consultant]

Hi,

Not sure I can add much to this, but those packages went under the generic "high reliability" term, so were used in any place that needed them, like military, medical, satellite communications, LNBs for dishes, etc. I have seen them also in early mobile/cell phones, where they were used for the high frequency side of things. If you are lucky, they could be high frequency transistors in matched pairs (2 unused pins or power pins.)

You could try making a chart and applying a low voltage, low current signal to one pin and scoping the other pins. Do that on every pin and see if anything springs to mind, like voltage drops, etc.

The markings are probably the code numbers requested by the customer, plus maybe even a batch code?

"74 79" could be a date, while "Z21B4" might just mean it is a package of Zener diodes, but I doubt it.

The one with foil wrapped pins, is prone to static damage, hence the foil of course - However if that is a date code on it "83.4.III", then it could well be a mobile/cell phone chip.

Similarly "87 4L" is most likely a date code, and so on. I have been trying to think of anyone who would order chips in heat sealed packs like that? Either they come in large quantities in a bag (if they are robust) or in individual packs. Whenever something comes in small quantity bags, or even better, where there are two different chips in separate bags, but still joined together - I think "production run". As in each "strip" of bags would have been used to make up just one item. If you can crack what one component is, it might help work out what the others could be in the same strip.

The ceramic ones with the gold patch. I have some of them, but mine were marked "TI" for Texas Instruments and the package is the high temp/high reliability/military/medical package. I never found out what mine were for either, as the manufacturer either did not know, or would not tell me what they were, because of client confidentiality.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help. This is all I could think of as possibilities from the pictures.

 

[HellasTechn]

Thank you for the comments sir Consultant. Im not sure. I suspect that theese chips where used on shipboard equipment. most likely satcomm as you suggested.

I never found out what mine were for either, as the manufacturer either did not know, or would not tell me what they were, because of client confidentiality.

Even if the manufacturer has any info about them they would not tell specially if they where ment to be used by the military.