Artifact Details

Title

Flip Chip G228 module

Catalog Number

XD387.83

Type

Physical object

Description

DEC PDP-8 Module, 1965: The "Flip Chip" method of packaging components allowed for faster assembly, testing, and maintenance of several generations of computers manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation. As the price of electronic components decreased dramatically during the 1960s, the Flip Chip was introduced (in 1964) as a method of reducing the fraction of packaging costs to total system cost. Each Flip Chip measured 2.5" x 5", provided its own mechanical support, and had a color-coded plastic handle which indicated the generation of circuit technology and circuit function present on the card. Each Flip Chip module had 18 pins and mated with a 144-pin connector block (such connector blocks thus supported eight Flip Chip modules). While important in themselves as an economizing measure, the biggest advantage to Flip Chips accrued from the connector block with which they mated--the block could be "wire-wrapped" by high-speed automatic wiring machinery, greatly reducing manufacturing costs and allowing rapid circuit modifications to be made.

Date

1970

Manufacturer

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)

Place Manufactured

U.S.

Identifying Numbers

Model number G228

Dimensions

3/8 x 5 3/8 x 2 3/8 (HWD) in.

Category

Component: circuit board / module

Credit

Gift of the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)

Lot Number

XD387.83