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what kind of chip is this?

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What kind of chip is this? I found this in my dads workshop!! He was an engineer.  He passed away few months ago!! So i can't ask him!! I am also interested in electronics and his workshop has several things that I think I can utilize in my projects!! It looks like  image

a microcontroller to me as there a crystal beside it!! image But I don't know much!! I am just a kid!! I googled the numbers on the body but didn't find anything!! It is embedded on a fairly large board with lots of other components!! The board looks old. There nothing written on the board. What kind of chip is this and can it be used for anything??

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    Looking at the age of the board, I would guess (just a guess ) that if it was a microcontroller I would have a programing window, I would eliminate the possibility of it being a programmable microcontroller.

  • 0 in reply to kas.lewis

    Kas Lewis wrote:

     

    Looking at the age of the board, I would guess (just a guess ) that if it was a microcontroller I would have a programing window, I would eliminate the possibility of it being a programmable microcontroller.

    I would guess that it is a microcontroller, but it's mask programmed rather than reprogrammable.  In the old days, you'd use a reprogrammable uC for development, usually with the UV erase window as Kas says.  But once you've got the product developed, you'd have the manufacturer make a custom metal mask so that your program would be in ROM.  This saves money in large quantities.  If this is the case, you can't ever change the program.

     

    It's also possible that it's a one-time programmable part.  This is the same UV-erasable part, but it's in an opaque package so you can only program it once.  This provides security and saves package cost.

     

    Given the unrecognizable part number, I think the mask programmed uC with a custom part number is a reasonable guess.

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  • 0 in reply to kas.lewis

    Kas Lewis wrote:

     

    Looking at the age of the board, I would guess (just a guess ) that if it was a microcontroller I would have a programing window, I would eliminate the possibility of it being a programmable microcontroller.

    I would guess that it is a microcontroller, but it's mask programmed rather than reprogrammable.  In the old days, you'd use a reprogrammable uC for development, usually with the UV erase window as Kas says.  But once you've got the product developed, you'd have the manufacturer make a custom metal mask so that your program would be in ROM.  This saves money in large quantities.  If this is the case, you can't ever change the program.

     

    It's also possible that it's a one-time programmable part.  This is the same UV-erasable part, but it's in an opaque package so you can only program it once.  This provides security and saves package cost.

     

    Given the unrecognizable part number, I think the mask programmed uC with a custom part number is a reasonable guess.

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