Plastic ICs — pre-2010 (gold bond wire)

Date code is everything. Pre-2010 mass-market parts generally used gold bond wire; from about 2012 the industry moved to copper and palladium-coated copper. Same black package, ten times less gold.

Au 0.5–0.7 g/lbAg 0.2–1 g/lbPd trace–0.1 g/lb

eBay typical$25–45per lb

Refiner pays$14per lb

Metal in it$81.3per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencehighof the yield figures

How to spot it

Black epoxy body with tin/lead legs (QFP, SOIC, TSSOP) or a solder-ball array (BGA). Gold is only in the bond wires — milligrams each — plus gold-plated substrate pads on BGA.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Gold	0.5–0.7 g/lb	measured 0.67 g/lb and 0.61 g/lb independently
Silver	0.2–1 g/lb	solder balls, Ag die-attach
Palladium	trace–0.1 g/lb

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $81.3 per pound of contained metal — Gold 0.6 g = $78.3, Palladium 0.05 g = $2.06, Silver 0.5 g = $0.95. A refiner paying $14 returns about 17% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Preheat 250–280 °C

Whole-board preheat at 250–280 °C, then shake and scrape into a pan. Picking small chips one at a time is not worth your hourly rate.

Hazards

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

NEVER dry sweep or use compressed air on a scrapping bench. HEPA-vac or wet-wipe only.

💨 Fumes, ventilation and open flame

NEVER burn boards, wire insulation or plastic. Ever.

The common trap

A 100-pin gold-bonded IC holds about 1.5–3 mg of gold. A 14-pin DIP holds 0.2–0.4 mg. It only works as a volume game.

Questions

How much gold is in plastic ics — pre-2010 (gold bond wire)?

Gold: 0.5–0.7 g/lb. Silver: 0.2–1 g/lb. Palladium: trace–0.1 g/lb. At current spot that is about $81.3 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify plastic ics — pre-2010 (gold bond wire)?

Date code is everything. Pre-2010 mass-market parts generally used gold bond wire; from about 2012 the industry moved to copper and palladium-coated copper. Same black package, ten times less gold.

How do you remove plastic ics — pre-2010 (gold bond wire) safely?

Whole-board preheat at 250–280 °C, then shake and scrape into a pan. Picking small chips one at a time is not worth your hourly rate.

Related in ICs & chips

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