SMD code search: identify a part by its marking
1 part in X2SON is printed PT. 1 printed with a similar-looking code.
1 part in X2SON is printed PT
Not sure which one you have?
Answer up to 4 quick questions and these 2 parts are ranked, with a meter test that settles it. It works on a dead part too.
TPS7A0318DQNX2SONLDO regulator, Texas InstrumentsLDO regulatorTexas Instruments
- What it is
- LDO regulator
- Maker
- Texas Instruments
- Package
- X2SON
- Pins
- 4
- Details
- Nanopower IQ, 200nA, 200mA, Low-Dropout Voltage Regulator With Fast Transient Response
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Voltage, board powered, black probe on ground. Then ohms with the power off.
Working, it reads
Input pin at the supply, output pin at its rated voltage, and the enable pin high if it has one.
Dead, it reads
- Output equal to the input: the pass element has shorted. Everything after it may have taken the full input.
- Input present, enable high, no output: failed open, or holding itself off into a shorted load. Power off and measure output to ground.
- Power off, input to output near 0 Ω: shorted.
- On the board:
- An output at 0 V is often a shorted load with the regulator in current limit. Lift the output pin: if the short stays on the board, the regulator may be fine.
- Compare:
- The same regulator on another rail or another board shows the right voltages and the right resistances.
- Watch for:
- Makers put input, output and ground on different pins in the same package, so take them from this part's datasheet. Diode or ohms readings between its pins say little; check it powered.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
1 more part has no package on record. Nothing rules it out, so it stays.
BAR64-07PIN diode, InfineonPIN diodeInfineon
- What it is
- PIN diode
- Maker
- Infineon
- Package
- Not recorded
- Pins
- Not recorded
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range, part lifted or one leg off the pad. Red probe on the anode.
Working, it reads
About 0.6 to 0.9 V anode to cathode, and open the other way.
Dead, it reads
- The same reading both ways round, near 0 V with a continuous beep or the same middling value: shorted.
- Open both ways: failed open.
- On the board
- this is a first look only: the meter reads every path between those pins, and a short can be a neighbour. Lift one leg before you condemn it.
- Compare:
- If an identical part sits elsewhere on the board, measure it the same way: that is what this one should read.
- Watch for:
- A varicap that has drifted in capacitance reads normal on a meter. Only a capacitance meter or the tuning itself shows it.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
1 more part is printed with a code easy to misread as PT: none in X2SON, 1 with no package on record
Printed with a code easy to misread
One character differs, and it is one that is easy to confuse under a lamp. The odd one out is marked on each.
1 part has no package on record. Nothing rules it out, so it stays.
PU2BMprinted P7Rectifier, Taiwan SemiconductorRectifierTaiwan Semiconductor
Printed P7 on the part. Easy to misread as PT. Check that character with a loupe before you order anything.
- What it is
- Rectifier
- Maker
- Taiwan Semiconductor
- Package
- Not recorded
- Pins
- Not recorded
- Source
- From the manufacturer's datasheet
Is it dead?
Diode range, part lifted or one leg off the pad. Red probe on the anode.
Working, it reads
About 0.5 to 0.8 V anode to cathode, and open the other way. Small switching diodes read about 0.6 to 0.7 V; large rectifiers can read a little lower.
Dead, it reads
- The same reading both ways round, near 0 V with a continuous beep or the same middling value: shorted.
- Open both ways: failed open.
- A reading the wrong way round as well: leaky.
- On the board
- this is a first look only: the meter reads every path between those pins, and a short can be a neighbour. Lift one leg before you condemn it.
- Compare:
- If an identical part sits elsewhere on the board, measure it the same way: that is what this one should read.
- Watch for:
- A three-pin body can hold two diodes. With a common pin they read two junctions from that pin, just like a transistor; in series they read two drops end to end. Test each pair the datasheet names.
A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.
One code, several parts
Marking codes are not unique. In the standard code book, 6H on a SOT-23 is an NPN transistor, a varicap, an N-channel JFET, two digital transistors, a 3.6 V voltage detector: six parts from five makers. So a search shows the parts we hold under that code and under codes easily misread as it, with only the columns that tell them apart.
- NPN transistor
- Varicap
- N-channel JFET
- Digital transistor ×2
- 3.6 V voltage detector
When more than one is left
Tap Help me choose. Up to 4 quick answers: whether the part has failed, then what separates the parts left. Those get ranked with the reasoning and a test that settles it. That uses one identification: 2 a month are free without an account, and 3 with a free account.
When you cannot read it
Tap the camera in the field. We read the characters, keep the ones we are unsure of, and search every reading. A photo too soft to read is turned back on your phone first; if it is the only one you can get, you can still send it.