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Hitachi Calculator Integrated Circuits

Hitachi was founded in 1910 by electrical engineer Namihei Odaira in Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo. Hitachi started already in 1965 the development of Integrated Circuits (ICs), based on technology from RCA in the United States. The first products of the HD100 Series were designed in Emitter-coupled Logic ECL (Emitter-coupled Logic) technology, a high-speed bipolar transistor logic family using a 15 um manufacturing process and used in October 1966 with Sharp's CS-31A, the World’s first electronic calculator incorporating ICs.

Hitachi followed soon with the HD700 Series, a family of SSI (Small Scale Integration) ICs in PMOS technology and consisting of simple inverters, logic gates, flip flops and 4-bit to 16-bit shift registers, packaged in 10-pin and 12-pin metal can housings (TO-100 and TO-101, respectively) and operated with a single 24V supply. These kinds of chips, commonly referred as JMOS devices for Japanese MOS, were manufactured around 1966 to 1971 not only by Hitachi, but with similar or identical functionality, from companies like Mitsubishi, NEC and Toshiba, too and provided similar functionality to the DTL and TTL Logic Families introduced in the Western world.

The HD700 Series proved to be very successful and allowed with the CS-16, introduced in March 1967 and considered the World’s first calculator incorporating MOS ICs, a dramatic reduction in size, weight and component count and paving the way for the famous QT-8D, introduced in October 1969 and recognized as the World’s first electronic calculator incorporating LSI (Large Scale Integration) ICs manufactured by the Autonetics division of US company Rockwell Electronics.

Hitachi complemented the HD700 Series in 1969 with the HD3100 Series, offering a more complete product portfolio and adding MSI (Medium Scale Integration) complexity like BCD Adders or 44+4-bit Shift Registers and switching to more economical Dual In-line Packages (DIPs) with 14 to 24 pins.

First Hitachi chipset

With the goal do get independent from Western chip manufacturers, Hitachi started in 1969 the design of their own PMOS (p-channel Metal–oxide Semiconductor) LSI chips for desktop calculators and introduced in January 1971 the HD3201 Series. The functionality of a 14-digit desktop calculator was divided into 9 chips, named HD3201-HD3209 but depending on the functionality of the calculator, between 9 and 11 chips were used.
These chips are manufactured in a 10 um PMOS metal-gate process with enhancement mode transistors used for both gates and loads and using Ceramic Quad In-line Packages (QIP) with 42 pins.

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3201 1971   Friden 1117, Friden 1118, Elka 41  
HD3202    
HD3203 Program Memory Chip Also 24 pin Ceramic DIP
HD3204    
HD3205 Program Memory Chip Also 24 pin Ceramic DIP
HD3206    
HD3207    
HD3208    
HD3209    

First Hitachi chipset for Casio

When Casio developed their first desktop calculators using LSI chips, they turned to Hitachi. To reduced manufacturing costs of the devices, Hitachi replaced the expensive 42-pin Ceramic Quad In-line Package used with the original HD3201-HD3209 chipset with more economical solutions and added multiple new MSI and LSI chips to their portfolio of "Building Blocks for Electronic Desktop Calculators.
These chips are manufactured in a 10 um PMOS metal-gate process with enhancement mode transistors used for both gates and loads and using Ceramic or Plastic Dual In-line Packages (DIP) with 16 or 24 pins.

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3203 1971 Program Memory Chip Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic
HD3205 1971 Program Memory Chip Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic
HD3210 1971 Input Chip Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic
HD3211 1971 Timing and Program Sequencer Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic or Plastic
HD3212 1971 Data Chip (ALU) Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic
HD3214 1971 Data Memory Chip Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 16 pin Ceramic, 3 x 64-bit Shift Registers
HD3219 1971 Display Chip Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 24 pin Ceramic or Plastic
HD3226 1971   Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 16 pin Plastic, MSI
HD3227 1971 2 Flip Flops Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 16 pin Plastic, MSI
HD3233 1971 6 Inverters Casio 101-A, Casio AS-L 16 pin Plastic, MSI

First Hitachi chipset for Sharp

Sharp introduced in October 1969 with the famous Micro Compet QT-8D the World's first battery operated electronic calculator, based on four LSI (Large Scale Integration) chips manufactured by the Autonetics division of Rockwell. This was the first pocketable calculator priced at less than JP¥100,000 (less than US$300) and turned out to be a popular product, paving the long-lasting success of Sharp in the calculator business. With the goal of the major Japanese calculator manufacturers, to get independent from Western chip suppliers, Sharp turned in 1971 with the chipset for their 12-digit desktop calculators CS-122 and CS-223 to Hitachi. The outcome was a modular design that used the Hitachi HD3215, HD3216 und HD3217 chips for the base model CS-122, while the HD3218 chip was added for the CS-223 featuring an additional memory function.
These chips are manufactured in a 10 um PMOS metal-gate process with enhancement mode transistors used for both gates and loads and using Ceramic or Plastic Dual In-line Packages (DIP) with 16 or 24 pins.
Starting in February 1972, Sharp manufactured these LSI chips with their own PMOS technology, too and marked them SD3215, SD3216, SD3127 and SD3218, respectively.

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3215 1971   Sharp CS-122, CS-223 24 pin Ceramic or Plastic
HD3216   24 pin Ceramic or Plastic
HD3217   16 pin Ceramic or Plastic
HD3218 1971 Memory Sharp CS-223 24 pin Ceramic or Plastic

Second Hitachi chipset

Following Moore's Law, Hitachi was early in 1972 able to combine the functionality of their original chipset used for example with Friden's 1117 calculator to just the LSI chips.
These chips are manufactured in a 10 um PMOS metal-gate process with enhancement mode transistors used for both gates and loads and using Plastic Dual In-line Packages (DIP) with 28 pins.

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3235 1972   Friden 1117A, Hitachi KK521  
HD3236    
HD3237    

First Hitachi "single-chip" calculator circuits

 

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3223 1972     Multi-chip Package

First Hitachi "true" single-chip calculator circuits

 

Type Year Function Calculator Comments
HD3633 1974 Basic Canon LD-80 Panther, Lloyd's Accumatic 30 [+] [−] [=] keys, MD Constant, %, 8 digits
HD36290 1974 Basic Lloyd's Accumatic 30 [+] [−] [=] keys, MD Constant, %, 8 digits

Work-In-Progress.

Hitachi LSI/MOS Packaging Timeline

Jan. 1971 - 42-pin QIP White Ceramic, Round Metal Lid
Apr. 1971 - 28-pin DIP White Ceramic, Round Metal Lid
Apr. 1971 - 16-pin DIP White Ceramic, Rectangular Metal Lid
Sep. 1971 - 28-pin DIP White Ceramic Multichip, Rectangular Metal Lid
Sep. 1971 - 28-pin DIP Plastic
Jan. 1972 - 24-pin DIP Plastic

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© Joerg Woerner, November 21, 2024. No reprints without written permission.