[TenTec] Tips to searching or cross referencing parts

[Stuart Rohre]

One of the list members was trying to search or cross a semiconductor; and
said he did not have success with Google.  Probably he had only entered the
exact part no.

The part was described as possibly of one family of semi, but apparently in
google he used the part no. "IRF331A" which does come up blank.

However, a knowledge of manufacturing prefixes or numbering systems used for
semiconductors or other components can be very valuable.   Originally, IRF
was the prefix for International Semiconductor parts.   Entering that in
Google.com, I came up with a web page www.irf.com

>From that I came to a search engine on the page, which eventually lead to
their cross reference guide and the fact that the IRF 331A, can possibly be
replaced (depending on application) by IRF 330.
However, an upgraded part is the IRF 440, or the 2N6760.

Knowing a general supplier of replacement semiconductors, my next stop, had
this not worked out, would have been NTE.com.

The main point here is to study distributors catalogs, for knowledge of part
numbering conventions for whatever electronics you might need.   Get to know
logos of companies that are applied to parts, as that will shorten your
searches if the company is still around, using that logo.   For the totally
unfamiliar part a logo can be very helpful to focus your search.
-Stuart Rohre
K5KVH