What’s ZIP Component Package?
The Zig-Zag In-Line Package (ZIP) is a component packaging technology for integrated circuits (ICs). It was intended as a replacement for dual in-line packaging (DIL or DIP). A ZIP is an integrated circuit encapsulated in a slab of plastic with 16, 20, 28 or 40 pins, measuring (for the ZIP-20 package) about 3 mm x 30 mm x 10 mm. The package’s pins protrude in two rows from one of the long edges.
Zig-Zag In-Line Package (ZIP)
The two rows are staggered by 1.27 mm (0.05″), giving them a zig-zag appearance, and allowing them to be spaced more closely than a rectangular grid would allow. The pins are inserted into holes in a printed circuit board (PCB), with the packages standing at right-angles to the board, allowing them to be placed closer together than DIPs of the same size. ZIPs have now been superseded by surface-mount packages, such as the thin small-outline packages (TSOPs), but are still in use.
High-power devices (such as high-voltage op-amp ICs, voltage regulators, and motor driver ICs) are still being manufactured in a package with a zig-zag pinout (and normally screwed onto a heatsink). These zig-zag packages include variations on the TO220 such as “TO220S”, “staggered leads TO-220-11”, “staggered leads TO-220-15”, and HZIP. The trademarks Pentawatt or Hexawatt are also used for chips in multi-leaded power packages like TDA2002/2003/2020/2030 and L200.