Zig-zag in-line package


The zig-zag in-line package is a packaging technology for integrated circuits. It was intended as a replacement for dual in-line packaging. A ZIP is an integrated circuit encapsulated in a slab of plastic with 16, 20, 28 or 40 pins, measuring about 3 mm × 30 mm × 10 mm. The package's pins protrude in two rows from one of the long edges. The two rows are staggered by 1.27 mm, giving them a zig-zag appearance, and allowing them to be spaced more closely than a rectangular grid would allow. The pins are inserted into holes in a printed circuit board, with the packages standing at right-angles to the board, allowing them to be placed closer together than DIPs of the same size. ZIPs have now been superseded by surface-mount packages such as the thin small-outline packages, but are still in use. The quad in-line package uses a similar staggered semiconductor package design, but on two sides instead of one.
High-power devices are still being manufactured in a package with a zig-zag pinout. These zig-zag packages include variations on the TO-220 such as "TO-220S", "staggered leads TO-220-11", "staggered leads TO-220-15", and HZIP. The trademarks Pentawatt or Hexawatt are also used for chips in multi-leaded power packages like TDA2002/2003/2020/2030 and L200.
As for computers, dynamic RAM ZIP chips are now only to be found in obsolete computers, some of these are: