| Amdahl 209 LSI RAM (76800 209) | |
| Written by AnubisTTP on 2017-06-01 |
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Even in a world filled with bizzare Amdahal integrated circuits, the Amdahl 209 stands apart. The 209 is an LSI RAM IC in a complicated multi-chip package that was used in the Amdahl 5860 mainframe. This strange looking device is equipped with four distinctive aluminum cooling towers that are bonded to the chip with black epoxy. Each cooling tower is attached to a small square leadless IC, which is in turn bonded to a ceramic carrier. The leadless ICs are actually mounted to the carrier upside down... each has a gold cavity lid pressed tightly against the ceramic of the attached carrier. The four gold pads on the top of the 209 are actually heat spreaders, which connect directly to the underside of the four dies in each package.
Sadly the 209, like most Amdahl chips, has completely undocumented specifications. It is unlikely that these chips will ever see significant use in home-brew electronics projects, due to a lack of reliable connection data.
Amdahl 209 LSI RAM.
This chip may be small, but it is very strange!
Amdahl 209 die photo, 30x magnification. Each 209 contains four of these dies.
The underside of the Amdahl 209 contains a number of gold plated traces and test pads.
Under the four tower heatsink, each chip on the Amdahl 209 has a gold heat spreader.
The heatsink arrays on Amdahl integrated circuits are one step away from being usable as a CGI flyover in an early 1990s hacker movie.
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