SolderSmoke Daily News -- Ham Radio Blog: The History of MOSFETs -- Let us Remember the 40673. The IRF510. And others...

Thursday, April 10, 2025

The History of MOSFETs -- Let us Remember the 40673. The IRF510. And others...

Lots of great history explained in this video. I found myself thinking about our beloved 40673 dual gate MOSFET:

https://hackaday.com/2016/03/21/the-curse-of-the-40673-zombie-components-that-refuse-to-leave-the-building/

And, of course, about the IRF510.

4 comments:

WN2AApril 10, 2025 at 1:42 PM
No,no,no, Bill pleaaase!--Thou shalt not associate IRF510's with 40673's. The former is all-pervasive in its consumer and automotive applications, continues as this especially in SMD form. The latter 40673 came from RCA, Somerville to the FM tuner industry, hams and a certain QST Technical Editor, who got that ball going. The IRF510's is still going strong, at 34.25¢ @ unit qty (Avnet), cranking >20Watts on 30M CW (several MOuSeFET's) works out to >50 Watts/dollar. The 40637, increasingly a scarce commodity, is the ultimate Zombie Component.
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Bill MearaApril 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
But Mike, haven't you heard about the effort by a certain company to re-start production of the 40673? This will be really big. Dual gates, my friend. Perfect for mixers and modulators. It will be great. Like 1979 all over again! 73 Bill
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WN2AApril 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Bill, That's great news! 1979! Rocky II, Alien and Life of Brian!
Did someone convince a manufacturer to reshore to America to make them just for us!
As Jon Y. points out, In the beginning... there was aluminum gate.
Then... self-aligned polysilcon gate replaced it.
Maybe this hints at the real meaning of that apparel we see : Make Aluminum Gate Awesome??
Gosh, I just never knew!
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Bill MearaApril 11, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Mike: Well, you know, people are saying that the 40673 is coming back. All those old W1FB designs will be FB again. I hope that this is true. 73 Bill
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