>From: Tony Duell <ard at
p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
>Sent: Apr 3, 2010 12:06 PM
>To: cctalk at
classiccmp.org
>Subject: PIC900C
>
>I am looking for a data sheet (or at least a pinout) for an IC numbered
>PIC900C. Despite the number, this is not a microcontroller, it's some
>kind of power driver IC -- from the 'house code' on it, I suspect it's
>little more than a transistor array, here [1] configured as a full-H driver
>foo a motor. FWIW it's in a 'wide' 18 pin DIL package with a metal top
>surface to attach to a heatsink.
>
>I beleive it was made by Unitrode in the early 1980s. Alas the only
>Unitrode data book I could find on the web was too early for it.
>
>[1] On the 'servo' (notor control) board of an HP9144 tape drive.
melamy at
earthlink.net wrote:
I will have to do some digging on this. I used a PIC625 from Unitrode in designing a 12
to 5 volt switching regulator. It is a switch mode transistor with a flyback diode in it
if I remember correctly. The device is a four pin can (smaller than a TO3 case). Just not
sure if the 900 was in the same family.
best regards, Steve Thatcher
Taking the lead from Steve's mention of Unitrode, I scanned through the one
Unitrode book I have: "UNITRODE Switching Regulated Power Supply Design Seminar
Manual (1985)". Didn't find a direct ref or spec for the PIC900, but some hints
appear in a section on buck regulators:
"PIC600 and PIC800 series are power output stages for buck regulators
which contain switching transistors and catch diodes."
"PIC910 is a complete buck regulator except for the filter components
(includes transistor, catch diode, and PWM control circuit)."
"Nomenclature: UFN: Power MOSFET; USD: Schottky Rectifier; ..; PIC: Hybrid
Circuit."