Weird component (?) - WTF is it?

  • Thread starter Lewin A.R.W. Edwards
  • Start date
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Lewin A.R.W. Edwards

Guest
The other day at work, I found a very odd electronic component in the
parking lot (to be exact, it stuck in the treads of one of my tires).
At least, I think it's a component, or perhaps a partially-completed
component... It consists of a complicated copper sprue ~2.25" x 7"
divided into a matrix of 3 x 12 identical subcomponents. The center of
each of these subcomponents is a blob of black epoxy. The reason I
think that these things are separate subcomponents is because each of
these black blobs has a unique mold position code molded into one side
of it (e.g. "M8", "M9", "N1" etc). Here are hires scans of the
assembly, both sides:

<http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg>
<http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg>

The second link above shows the side with the mold-number markings in
it.

After scanning the above pictures, I cracked open one of the plastic
blobs and I find that there are three separate metal tongues
protruding inside it, leading me to believe it's likely a transistor
of some sort. I think the external copper piece was meant to be
machine-separated in some way, that it ties the parts all together for
ESD hardening reasons during manufacture.

If there was a semiconductor in there, my crude breaking didn't reveal
it.

Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
 
On 5 Sep 2004 11:04:30 -0700, the renowned larwe@larwe.com (Lewin
A.R.W. Edwards) wrote:

The other day at work, I found a very odd electronic component in the
parking lot (to be exact, it stuck in the treads of one of my tires).
At least, I think it's a component, or perhaps a partially-completed
component... It consists of a complicated copper sprue ~2.25" x 7"
divided into a matrix of 3 x 12 identical subcomponents. The center of
each of these subcomponents is a blob of black epoxy. The reason I
think that these things are separate subcomponents is because each of
these black blobs has a unique mold position code molded into one side
of it (e.g. "M8", "M9", "N1" etc). Here are hires scans of the
assembly, both sides:

http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg
http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg

The second link above shows the side with the mold-number markings in
it.

After scanning the above pictures, I cracked open one of the plastic
blobs and I find that there are three separate metal tongues
protruding inside it, leading me to believe it's likely a transistor
of some sort. I think the external copper piece was meant to be
machine-separated in some way, that it ties the parts all together for
ESD hardening reasons during manufacture.

If there was a semiconductor in there, my crude breaking didn't reveal
it.

Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
Click to expand...
Maybe an RF power transistor. The use of a leadframe, that the
finished parts are later removed from by a die, is unremarkable, but I
don't recognize the package type offhand.

Eg. http://wwww.ges.cz/sheet/2/2sc1966.pdf


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
 
On 5 Sep 2004 11:04:30 -0700, larwe@larwe.com (Lewin A.R.W. Edwards)
wrote:

The other day at work, I found a very odd electronic component in the
parking lot (to be exact, it stuck in the treads of one of my tires).
At least, I think it's a component, or perhaps a partially-completed
component... It consists of a complicated copper sprue ~2.25" x 7"
divided into a matrix of 3 x 12 identical subcomponents. The center of
each of these subcomponents is a blob of black epoxy. The reason I
think that these things are separate subcomponents is because each of
these black blobs has a unique mold position code molded into one side
of it (e.g. "M8", "M9", "N1" etc). Here are hires scans of the
assembly, both sides:

http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg
http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg

The second link above shows the side with the mold-number markings in
it.

After scanning the above pictures, I cracked open one of the plastic
blobs and I find that there are three separate metal tongues
protruding inside it, leading me to believe it's likely a transistor
of some sort. I think the external copper piece was meant to be
machine-separated in some way, that it ties the parts all together for
ESD hardening reasons during manufacture.

If there was a semiconductor in there, my crude breaking didn't reveal
it.

Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
Click to expand...
Just a swag but considering the relative population sizes of fancy RF
gear and cheap electronics I'd guess that what you have is part of a
keypad assembly for some consumer electronics remote control unit.

The background (scanner cover?) is almost the same color/texture as the
epoxy so it's a bit hard to make out which parts of the inner cutouts
are filled and which are background.

But the formfactor looks about right for a handheld gadget.

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA
 
Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:

The other day at work, I found a very odd electronic component in the
parking lot (to be exact, it stuck in the treads of one of my tires).
At least, I think it's a component, or perhaps a partially-completed
component... It consists of a complicated copper sprue ~2.25" x 7"
divided into a matrix of 3 x 12 identical subcomponents. The center of
each of these subcomponents is a blob of black epoxy. The reason I
think that these things are separate subcomponents is because each of
these black blobs has a unique mold position code molded into one side
of it (e.g. "M8", "M9", "N1" etc). Here are hires scans of the
assembly, both sides:

http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg
http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg

The second link above shows the side with the mold-number markings in
it.

After scanning the above pictures, I cracked open one of the plastic
blobs and I find that there are three separate metal tongues
protruding inside it, leading me to believe it's likely a transistor
of some sort. I think the external copper piece was meant to be
machine-separated in some way, that it ties the parts all together for
ESD hardening reasons during manufacture.

If there was a semiconductor in there, my crude breaking didn't reveal
it.

Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
Click to expand...
Lewin, you could have put some recognisable scale alongside this before
taking a photo of this device. It would have helped us be more certain.

I am guessing that this may be a Power MOSFET probably in the RF region as
this seems most logical to my thinking and knowledge about how such things
are produced. The lead frame is broken away before they devices are tested
and shipped. Maybe the other side still needs some potting. I don't think
that these particular ones would be working though.

With a scale, as I sdaid, we could be much more certain about this.

--
********************************************************************
Paul E. Bennett ....................<email://peb@a...>
Forth based HIDECS Consultancy .....<http://www.amleth.demon.co.uk/>
Mob: +44 (0)7811-639972 .........NOW AVAILABLE:- HIDECS COURSE......
Tel: +44 (0)1235-811095 .... see http://www.feabhas.com for details.
Going Forth Safely ..... EBA. www.electric-boat-association.org.uk..
********************************************************************
 
http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg
http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg

Maybe an RF power transistor. The use of a leadframe, that the
finished parts are later removed from by a die, is unremarkable, but I
Click to expand...
That's very plausible, given that I work in the Short Range Radio group,
and the parking lot I use is in between the Short Range Radio and Long
Range Radio buildings. I'm thinking a vendor probably dropped it, or
maybe one of the guys coming over from the CAD building where all our
specification sheets are stored.

Maybe it is a mechanical dummy used to test assembly equipment, or
something of the kind (hence the total lack of part# markings).
 
:) From those photos it looks like the strip you drive over to prevent
you reversing back into the car park!!

Yours, Mark.

Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:

The other day at work, I found a very odd electronic component in the
parking lot (to be exact, it stuck in the treads of one of my tires).
At least, I think it's a component, or perhaps a partially-completed
component... It consists of a complicated copper sprue ~2.25" x 7"
divided into a matrix of 3 x 12 identical subcomponents. The center of
each of these subcomponents is a blob of black epoxy. The reason I
think that these things are separate subcomponents is because each of
these black blobs has a unique mold position code molded into one side
of it (e.g. "M8", "M9", "N1" etc). Here are hires scans of the
assembly, both sides:

http://www.larwe.com/comp-1.jpg
http://www.larwe.com/comp-2.jpg

The second link above shows the side with the mold-number markings in
it.

After scanning the above pictures, I cracked open one of the plastic
blobs and I find that there are three separate metal tongues
protruding inside it, leading me to believe it's likely a transistor
of some sort. I think the external copper piece was meant to be
machine-separated in some way, that it ties the parts all together for
ESD hardening reasons during manufacture.

If there was a semiconductor in there, my crude breaking didn't reveal
it.

Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
Click to expand...
 
Just a swag but considering the relative population sizes of fancy RF
gear and cheap electronics I'd guess that what you have is part of a
keypad assembly for some consumer electronics remote control unit.
Click to expand...
Yes, but I didn't tell you where I work... for various reasons, it's not
on my resume :) Thousands of "fancy RF gear" type parts go through our
hands every day. Mind you, thousands of keypads go through our hands
every day, too, so the question might be seen as equally balanced. But
nothing we make is in quite that form factor.


But the formfactor looks about right for a handheld gadget.
Click to expand...
The thing that makes me think it isn't a handheld thingy is that each
blob has an individual mold-pos mark. That implies that the items are
eventually destined for separation. If it was some kind of keypad or
something of the kind, those items would be molded together and STAY
together. Plus the arrangement of copper and the type of material those
blobs are made of is just too suspiciously "semiconductorish".

It's possible that these things were samples of a custom transistor.
We're big enough that practically every part we buy is house-numbered,
and a few of those parts are "legacy" devices for which we are the sole
customer. It's possible that these devices are a packaging option of
some device that, to the rest of the world, is only available in a
through-hole package. That could be why they aren't marked with any type
identification; they can't be so marked until we assign a part number to
them.
 
On 5 Sep 2004 11:04:30 -0700, Lewin A.R.W. Edwards wrote:
Any conjectures as to what these parts might be?
Click to expand...
Oh my, that's the latest super-secret doobry that your employer has
spent $100M developing for DOD over the last few years. Don't
know what's going to happen to the incompetent who dropped it, but I've
a fair idea what they're going to do to the person that published
hi-res jpegs of it on the internet!

--
Trevor Barton
 
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