This article was originally published at MTSI. To read more of our case studies visit our website for Micro Technology Services, Inc. If you used a

Testing the Z80 Chip With a 1970s Beauty - MTSI

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2024-11-11 20:30:05

This article was originally published at MTSI. To read more of our case studies visit our website for Micro Technology Services, Inc.

If you used a Z80 chip back in the 1980s, it almost certainly passed through a single room and its Fairchild Sentry 610 test system. Mostek had grown into the one’s top producer of DRAM, and every Z80 microprocessor — including Zilog-branded ones — went through tests there.

Mostek also tested Fairchild F-8 CPU chips and exotic parts such as the Magnavox “Star” T.V. tuner chips. The system was general purpose enough, we could test RAMs, ROMs and calculators — though we made our own custom testers for these. The room did most of the heavy lifting on all of the early CPU chips. Mostek also had a second-source license for many popular CPU chips — the Farichild F-8 series, the Z80, the Intel 8088/6, and the Motorola 68000 family.

Several MTSI engineers began their careers at Mostek which invented the multiplexed DRAM, too. But back in 1971, Mostek’s engineers were introduced to the Sentry 610. Fairchild Systems had just introduced the first computer-controlled, modularized, expandable test system product line in the the Sentry series. These third-generation systems were designed to test complex MSI/ LSI integrated circuits, electronic subsystems, and systems.