So my shipment of "big" chips finally arrived from Mouser yesterday -- a few 65c02, 65c22, 2692A, and 65816 (I bought more than one of each because of the shipping costs. I figure you never know when you'll need an extra 65c02, right?). Now, while all the ICs were in anti-static packages, the '816 were in sealed anti-static packages and had humidity warnings. Of, course, I immediately opened it, and inside are those moisture-sucking gel packages, something that looks like a blood-type test patch but for humidity, and instructions to "bake" the CPU if the little circle is pink instead of blue.

So my question is, why the difference between the 65c02 and the 65816? I would have assumed that they are produced in pretty much the same way by now. And when they say "bake", are we really talking about an oven? It's not that we don't put chips in our oven, but (warning, bad pun ahead) we usually call them french fries.

Do they have an MSL code somewhere on the labels ? This tells you how sensitive these are to moisture. It could be that the two devices aren't made with the exact same packaging.

Anyway, this is only important if you intend to reflow solder them, as the reflow process heats them up quite quickly, and the residual water absorbed by the package turns into steam and causes fractures. Hand soldering won't harm them.

And yes, by "bake" they really talk about an oven. It needs to have the right temperature to let the water evaporate at a controlled rate.

Not that I can see it. Thanks for the background info, they had me worried there for a moment. I think I'll just not tell my wife about the baking part ...

_________________
x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

I think I missed a great opportunity here to play a joke on my kids -- hand them the humidity test card and say, gee, it looks like you're getting a kid sister. My daughter can read already, but my son can't and it would have been worth the look on their faces. Ah, next time.

Just curious, but where did you get that information ? I couldn't find any reference on the website or the datasheet about MSL or moisture sensitivity.

_________________
x86?  We ain't got no x86.  We don't NEED no stinking x86!

It's also strange to pack something in a humidity controlled package without actually specifying the MSL code. When I get stuff from Digi-Key that's moisture sensitive, they've always included the MSL code. There's a big difference between MSL-2 and MSL-4.