I noticed the leads of a 5 mm white LED were magnetizable. I thought they were tinned copper, but that's obviously not the whole truth. What are they made of?
magnetizable LED leads
Jun 04, 2012
6 Replies
Sometimes they use steel (plated). Steel has much lower thermal conductivity so it's not as good, but it is cheaper.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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Tin plated steel.
Some manufacturers' IC lead frames are the same, also transistor leads.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
(Richard Feynman)
Is there some hidden legitimate reason to this other than price? I was under the impression that steel is not a very good option due to its thermal properties.
weland@sdf.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
% grep me no patterns and I'll tell you no lines
OTOH the silicon doesn't get as hot when soldered, I guess.
Bernhard
Pretty common on glass encapsulated signal diodes too apparently.
Glass packages use Kovar leads, which are magnetic.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics
160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058
hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net
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