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SMD code A61

Marking codes are not standardised, and the same code is reused by unrelated makers for unrelated parts. Below is every part in our tables printed with it, and any printed with a code that is easy to misread as it, from the manufacturers' own marking tables.

3 parts are printed A61

Not sure which one you have?

Answer up to 4 quick questions and these 3 parts are ranked, with a meter test that settles it. It works on a dead part too.

all SOT-23, 3 pins. What differs:

Is it dead? One meter test per kind

Parts of the same kind are tested the same way, so each test is here once. Each part above points to its own.

Silicon diode

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.

MOSFET

Diode range, part lifted. Test drain to source first, then short gate to source and test again.

Working, it reads

One way between drain and source reads about 0.4 to 0.9 V, the body diode, and the other way open. The gate reads open to both other pins.

Dead, it reads

  • Drain to source the same both ways, near 0 V with a continuous beep, and still so after shorting gate to source: shorted. The classic failure.
  • The gate reads low to source or drain: gate shorted.
  • No body diode at all: failed open.
On the board
the gate usually has a resistor to the source, which reads as that resistor and is not a fault. Lift a leg to be sure.
Compare:
If an identical part sits elsewhere on the board, measure it the same way: that is what this one should read.
Watch for:
The diode range can charge the gate enough to turn the part on, and then drain to source reads near 0 both ways on a good part. Short gate to source and test again before you condemn it.

A dead part still carries its marking. A short or an open says it has failed, not that it is a different part.

Printed with a code easy to misread as A61

One character differs, and it is one that is easy to confuse under a lamp. Each code has a page of its own.

Codes that begin with A61

For a marking with its end worn or burnt off. Each code has a page of its own.

Open this in the search to correct a character or try another package.