ZN414 integrated circuit

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ZN414-TRF-RADIO-IC — A ZN414 IC in a TO92 package. Attribution: Nkendrick at the English language Wikipedia.

The idea[]

The production of a cheep and efficient 5 transistor microchip for basic AM radio set circuit functions. It was integrated circuits like this that lead to a lot smaller and cheaper pocket radios.

Manufacturing[]

The then Western standard silicon\germanium etching process.

Stats[]

ZN414 integrated circuit.
Category.	Statistic.
Designed in.	1972.
Made in.	1972.
Transistors per chip.	5.
Power supply.	Low and battery power.
Still in use.	No, but MK484, TA7642, (mostly found in India, the Far East and Australasia) YS414 and LMF501T are the modern versions. YS414 part has pins 1 (output) and 3 (ground/earth) are transposed.
Nationality.	USA\UK.

History[]

Zn414-basic-circuit — A ZN414 in basic functional circuit diagram.

The ZN414 was a low cost, single-chip AM radio integrated circuit. Launched in 1972, the part was designed and supplied by Ferranti, but was also available from GEC-Plessey. The ZN414 was popular amongst hobbyists as a fully working AM radio could be made with just a few external components, a crystal earpiece and a 1.5 V cell.

The ZN414 was popular amongst hobbyists as a fully working AM radio could be made with just a few external components like an arial, a crystal earpiece and a 1.5 V cell and so on.

The manufacturing process for the ZN414 chip used a relatively new (for the time) technique known as Collector Diffusion Isolation (CDI). CDI was invented by engineers at Bell Telephone Laboratories and subsequently developed into a commercial process by Ferranti in the UK.

Casing[]

TO-18, 3 leads, ZN414 (shaded) — A drawing of a ZN414 IC in a TO-18 package.

Overview[]

It is inside a 3 metal legged, plastic/epoxy TO-92 transistor packing unit shell or a 3 metal legged, epoxy\resin filled metal TO-18 transistor packing unit shell.

Pros and cons[]

The TO-18 case can dissipate heat better than the similarly sized plastic TO-92 package.
The TO-18 case is more expensive than the similarly sized plastic TO-92 package.

ZN414 integrated circuit

Contents