Electronic devices and electronic circuits in general contain several kinds of passive components and integrated circuits in terms of forms and shapes that are placed and selected according to different design considerations. In this article, we will go deeper into DIP package, which is a kind of packaging for integrated circuits, by analyzing it from different perspectives.
What is meant by DIP package
Among different integrated circuit packages, you can find those who might be big due to their power and thermal dissipation, and smaller ones that have small fittings that might be suitable due to the end device’s size constraints. In this case, a DIP package is an integrated circuit type of housing which includes two coequal rows of pins. The term DIP stands for Dual In-Line) and sometimes it is also known as Dual In-line Pin Package (DIPP).
What are the different types of DIP package
A DIP package is a through-hole packaging, in which the number of pins is included in order to provide more details about the number of signals or pins that specific package will have and are generally in even numbers which usually range from four to up to sixty-four pins (e.g. DIP8, DIP16).
Depending on the DIP package size and composition, there are a set of variants, which are used on different types of applications. Among the most common DIP package variants are the Plastic DIP (PDIP), Skinny DIP (SKDIP), Glass-sea ceramic DIP (CER-DIP), Dual In-line with window package (WDIP), Ceramic DIP (CDIP) and Molded DIP (MDIP).
What does a DIP package do
As DIP package is bigger in size and the pin configuration, orientation and type allows the integrated circuit to be easily integrated into protoboards or fast-prototype through-hole based PCB designs.
Due to its nature, it is easer to manipulate and place on a test-circuit as well as integrate with general use computer cabling, hence the hobby and testing applicability for these packages and their variants.
What is DIP production
As an integrated circuit, the DIP package must undergo different fabrication processes which will fit the housing, the metal lead, and the wire bonding to the core/integrated circuit.First of all, the DIP integrated circuit is fastened/assured to a lead frame in order to perform the lead bonding through the wire.
Once the bonding is verified and done correctly, the chip and frame goes through plastic injection with the proper molding (please note that depending on the type, the pouring and sintering might change in the case of ceramic DIP packages.
If required, the housing can undergo a special marking with the aid of laser marking for specific batch and part numbering as well as company logo.
What is DIP vs SMT package
There is a huge difference in terms of application and usability between a DIP package and an SMT component. The main and most important difference comes in terms of manipulation and ease of placement for testing purposes.
While a DIP package, as stated above, is easier to handle with and integrate to fast PCB designs, an SMT component will usually be a smaller-in-size variant of that same integrated circuit with the purpose of reducing component size and price.
If you are prototyping a specific circuit, it is recommended to work around DIP package variants first to test the usability and applications of your target design, so that, when the circuit is fully ready and operational, jump to a SMT variant which will reduce board size and BOM cost.
There are other properties that might benefit one package type over the other, such as with thermal dissipation properties. This can be applied to LEDs, which have proven to have better heat dissipation properties on SMT and light color and brightness properties, enhancing the total efficiency.
But, on the other end, think of a high-power circuit for motor control applications; in this case a bigger housing is more suitable and DIP packages or bigger size packages are utilized for these kinds of applications.
What is characteristic of DIP packaging used for integrated circuits
As stated above, the ease of manipulation and placement of DIP packages allows hobbyists and testers to use them for prototypes. Also, the geometrical form and pin orientation make them suitable for perforated welding on PCB and tracing is also simpler to do for the design stage.
The larger volume allows DIP package-based components to dissipate more heat than that of its SMT variant. Last but not least, standard logic integrated circuits, memories and microcomputing ICs utilize DIP variants even as of today.
What materials are in a DIP package
The DIP package materials usually utilize thermoset-based plastic materials for the casing, most commonly being ECN (epoxy-cresol-novolak) in combination with nickel-cobalt alloys (usually known as Kovar) or ceramic material, which I depend on the variant.
Also, a DIP package could also be molded on the epoxy plastic pressed over silver or gold leads attending to the signal properties required for the specific circuit.
Finally, some DIP packages could also include a small optical window to the interior of the housing, which is generally used for memory purposes (although this trend is not very used in recent days).
What are common DIP package sizes
The DIP package fabrication mostly complies to JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council) standards, which include typical spacing between lead rows (also known as inter-lead spacing) of about 2.54 mm (0.1 in).
The spacing between rows is in function of the pin count, which might comply to either JEDEC MS-011 (15.24mm or 0.6in) or JEDEC MS-001 standards (7.62mm or 0.3 in).
What tool and equipment does the DIP package use
To proper handle a DIP package component, general rules include the use of anti-static environment setup and the use of proper tweezers in order to insert the component into the predesigned footprint. If the DIP package component must be changed regularly, a DIP socket is advised to manipulate and change the circuit constantly.
Conclusion
In this article we described the basic type of DIP package components and their variants, as well as they fabrication and applicability as whole. Hopefully these guides provide a clear understanding of this technology and its way of use for proper testing and circuit design purposes.
DIP package (Dual In-line Package) refers to the integrated circuit chip packaged in the dual in-line form. The vast majority of small and medium-sized integrated circuits use this package form, and their pin count generally does not exceed 100.
1. Suitable for through hole soldering on PCB (printed circuit board), easy to operate.
2. The ratio between chip area and package area is large, so the volume is also larger.
● Multi-layer ceramic DIP package
● Single-layer ceramic DIP package
● Leadframe type DIP package
...
