Big box of 47 Amiga chips on uk ebay start off price £5.00

[N7VQM]

DoomMaster wrote:
That is NOT anti-static foam that those ICs are in.  

Actually, that could be anti-static foam.  It looks exactly like the anti-static foam that was used by the contract electronics manufacturer I worked for last year.  The foam we used was a 3M product.  BTW, I *KNOW* the stuff we used was anti-stat for two reasons:
1) 3M said so
2) UL wouldn't have allowed the company to keep its ISO9001 cert if the stuff wasn't anti-stat.

The lack of a desicant is abit troublesome.  I'd wager that the pins on those IC's have oxidized enough to prevent solid electrical contact.  But concidering that these buggers have been around for a few years, I doubt it matters much.

Too bad the auction in the UK.  I'd bid on it if it were on my side of the pond.

[N7VQM]

Not all anti-stat foam is black.  Some is pink, some is black, some is yellow, some is even white.  It depends on who made it.  The colors I mention are just the ones I've seen.  It's by no means an exhaustive list.  Anti-static products are not limited to bags and that black foam junk.  All that black (which also doesn't have to be black) stuff really does is hold parts in one place.  It's quite useless beyond that.  Have you ever seen anti-static bubble wrap?  I think it has a better popping sound than 'regular' bubble wrap. :-D

To be honest, unless those parts were handled only at static-safe workstations by properly gounded people and transported only in static-sheilded containters, the possibility exists that they have been damaged.  They could be damaged by static EVEN IF they WERE properly handled.  It can happen just walking across a properly-outfitted factory floor, following all the rules.  Such is life.

Now, re-read my first reply, especially the part about ISO9001.

[N7VQM]

DoomMaster wrote:
To Oldsmobile_Mike:

Gradual static damage usually takes about 3 mounths, this is the reason for the typical 90-day warranty.

I think what you are really refering to here is a Latent Failure.  Here is the definition of a Latent Failure:

A defect or damage that does not show up until some time after the damaging event occurs. The initial damage is not sufficient to cause catastrophic failure of the device, but does weaken the part. At some later time, either another static event or the cumulative effects of previous static events finally cause the part to fail.

This definition comes from HERE.

This has absolutly nothing to do with any 90-day warrantees because a latent failure could happen at any time in the devices life.

[N7VQM]

DoomMaster wrote:
There may now be many different colors of the "pink foam" but they do not PROTECT the chips from being zapped.  Only the black foam does that.  

The black foam doesn't protect very well.  Only static sheilding (like a static-sheilded bag) will reasonably protect a component.  Black foam is not static sheilding.  It helps but if you carry a voltage-sensitive device stuck to that foam through a strong enough electrostatic feild (such as that surronding a computer monitor or electric motor), that device could be toast unless it's INSIDE a static sheilded container.

Granted, the black foam generally is better than the other stuff (which is usually just low-tribocharging rather than conductive, you just have to read the datasheet to make the determination) but neither one alone is enough to protect components.