Definition of a "chip component"

[cmyguo3o]

Hi all,

What is the general definition of a chip component? I need it for a translation. In my native language, the popular translation of this term means literally "packageless component" or "housingless component". The English source document I'm currently translating describes chip components as "usually ceramic-bodied packages with metal connections called terminations at either end". This obviously goes contrary to the "packageless" part, hence the question.

Cmyguo3o

 

[kubeek]

Do you mean a chip-scale package, i.e. a bare die with contacts for soledring on a pcb?

 

[cowboybob]

An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small plate ("chip") of semiconductor material, normally silicon. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language - 2011) Some emphasis is mine.

So, the "chip" itself is initially without a package.

But common usage of the word "Chip", with respect to electronic components, has generally become defined as:

An integrated circuit (as above) that is "packaged" to:
1. prevent damage to its components
2. allow manual manipulation by human or machine devices
3. provide appropriate electrical connections from the integrated circuit to the "outside" of the package
4. allow for appropriate markings to indicate its identifying code and, thus, its purpose(s).

 

[cmyguo3o]

Well, the root of my problem lies partly in the fact that the "chip" term does not only refer to ICs, transistors, or diodes with their semiconductor chips/dies. In this document, the "Chip Components" category refers specifically to chip resistors and capacitors. (Other categories in this group are MELF and SOT diodes and transistors.)

What is meant by "chip" when applied to resistors and capacitors? Can we say that these components have no package or housing? By the way, is there a substantial difference between a package and a housing in this context?

 

[cmyguo3o]

A further research revealed that some translate "chip resistor/capacitor" simply as "SMD resistor/capacitor". Can it be that in this context "chip" and "SMD" are basically equivalent? (OTOH, I'd find this solution problematic because I also have the most general category of "Surface Mount Components" here.)

 

[KeepItSimpleStupid]

There is the definition of a COB or "Chip on board" https://www.dieproducts.org/tutorials/assembly/cob/

Some low cost things have an epoxy blob covering the "chip" on the PCB. They would likely be assembled similarly to an IC using an ultrasonic wire bonder.

 

[cmyguo3o]

There is the definition of a COB or "Chip on board" https://www.dieproducts.org/tutorials/assembly/cob/

Some low cost things have an epoxy blob covering the "chip" on the PCB. They would likely be assembled similarly to an IC using an ultrasonic wire bonder.

Chip-on-board is a separate category there. By "chip components", they basically mean chip resistors and capacitors. The document is from IPC.

 

[cowboybob]

Chip-on-board is a separate category there. By "chip components", they basically mean chip resistors and capacitors. The document is from IPC.

Is that IPC.org? I would like to see the document you're using as an English reference.

Can it be that in this context "chip" and "SMD" are basically equivalent?

No. And yes.

A discrete device (or discrete component) is an electronic component with just one circuit element, either passive (resistor, capacitor, inductor, diode) or active (transistor or vacuum tube), other than an integrated circuit. The term is used to distinguish the component from integrated circuits and hybrid circuits, which are built from several circuit elements (or chip components) in one package.

"Chip components", i.e., those individual parts of a "chip" would, of course, include resistors, capacitors, transistors (of whatever flavor), diodes, LEDs and any other components that might conceivably be included in the manufacturing process, all on a single wafer, that results in a completed, stand alone device or group of devices.

Thus, a single Integrated Chip comprised by a number of individual integrated chip components.

How it is mounted (i.e."SMD") into a larger overall circuit (say, a PCB) has nothing to do with its definition as an IC (a μC) or a discrete device (a capacitor). As such, a device listed as "SMD" is, for all intents and purposes, a discrete component of the larger overall circuit.

 

[cmyguo3o]

Is that IPC.org? I would like to see the document you're using as an English reference.

This is a different revision of the same document, see p. 38:
http://www.dynamixtechnology.com/docs/ipc-drm-18gs.pdf
Beware that it has side-by-side pages, so in physical pages your reader application may interpret it as page 20.

 

[cmyguo3o]

After further deliberations, here's what I've come up with. By "chip", what the authors actually refer to is simply the shape of the component, similar to a chip in the common meaning of the word. "Chip" and "SMD" cannot possibly be equivalent here, because the latter category is much more general.

As my native tongue doesn't seem to have a non-awkward stylistically correct way to convey that reference, I feel I'll just have to transcribe it. So "chip-komponenty" will it be.

 

[cowboybob]

OK. I see it now. It's not so much the shape of the component, it's the substrate.

Essentially, the individual "discrete" components (one resistor, one cap, etc.) are created using the same techniques and process(es) utilized for the more complex devices (Op Amp, comparator, μC, etc.). Of course, hundreds may be created simultaneously on a one wafer. Thus, once separated, the single component is on a actual "chip".

 

[Tony Stewart]

Consider chip to mean "leadless" or no leads or no pins. ... Not RoHS or Pb-free which sounds like LED (lead)

 

[NorthGuy]

Digi-Key's catalog uses "chip resistors" as an equivalent for SMD resistors. Another group is called "through hole resistors".

 

[Tony Stewart]

The chip name was originally used inside of thruhole IC's with pins. The chip has no pins, just Gold plated pads that connect to leadframes with gold whisker wire by ultrasonic welders.

The same is true and is visible in LEDs.