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IC pin numbering

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fingaz

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It doesn't really make any difference to me, but does anyone know why IC pins are numbered anticlockwise (ie 1 in top left corner).

Just curious really. Logically, I would assume that they'd be numbered clockwise.

Cheers
 
It's clockwise if you look from the pin/pcb side of the chip. Turn it over.
 
The numbering convention is consistent with the pinout of old tube sockets. Viewed from the bottom where engineers and technicians actually do the wiring, read pin numbers starting with #1 just clockwise from the marker in the base. Tube manuals and schematics gave the bottom view.

The numbering convention continued with transistor (TO-5 package) and the bottom view in transistor manuals.

ICs have the same numbering system but are shown with a top view on data sheets so pin 1 is counterclockwise from the package marker. I suppose this is because techs probe from the top and IC test clips attach to the top of DIP packages. It can be confusing because a transistor in a TO-3 package has a bottom view in its data sheet, but an IC voltage regulator in a TO-3 package has a top view.

Bob
 
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