:orphan:

.. _Packaging:

Packaging and Identification
============================

The Motorola MC68xx family of ICs had a (mostly) mostly common, identifiable, naming convention. The base prefix was either "MC68" or "MCM68", with the latter indicating a
multi-chip module (MCM) package.

.. important::
    Note all ICs in the family followed this convention. For example, the MC6846 did not have a suffix letter to indicate packaging, while others used different letters (all explained within their relevant data sheets).


The suffix letter indicated the type of packaging used for the IC:

.. csv-table:: 
   :header: "Suffix","Description"
   :widths: auto
   
   "L",":ref:`Ceramic <glossary_CERAMIC>`"
   "P",":ref:`Plastic <glossary_PLASTIC>`"
   "S",":ref:`CERDIP <glossary_CERDIP>`"

Some of the Motorola range were offered with different performance or access time levels. These are indicated by a letter inserted after the "MC68" or "MCM68" prefix:

.. csv-table:: 
   :header: "Performance","Description","Example"
   :widths: auto

   "A","1.5MHz",":ref:`MC68A50P <MC68A50P>`"
   "B","2MHz",":ref:`MCM68B10P <MCM68B10P>`"

.. note::
    Some second source manufacturers used different performance level indicators. For example, **Hitachi** used "C" to indicate 3MHz or 3.5Mhz parts (:ref:`HD63C09EP <HD63C09EP>`)


.. collapse:: The "BETTER Programme"
   
    Additionally, some ICs had additional suffix components to indicate specific variants of the base IC (as per the 
    "BETTER Programme"):

    .. csv-table:: 
       :header: "Suffix","Level","Summary"
       :widths: auto

        "I","S","100% temperature cycling per MIL-STD-883A."
        "II","D","100% burn-in to MIL-STD-883A."
        "III","DS","Combination of I and II."

    .. image:: ../../../images/General/better.png
       :width: 400
       :align: center