ICs & chips · Tier C

Thick-film resistor networks (SIP/DIP)

Palladium, not silver, is where the money hides — the Ag/Pd conductor paste under the terminations is worth more per gram than the entire silver content.

Ag 2–5 g/lbPd 0.2–0.7 g/lb

eBay typical$15–50per lb

Refiner pays$8per lb

Metal in it$22.2per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencelowof the yield figures

How to spot it

Flat black or dark-brown ceramic sticks with 6–10 pins in a single row, or a low-profile DIP, marked like 4610X-101-471 or 8A103J. Bourns, CTS, Beckman and Dale are the usual makers. Found on 80s–90s bus lines, keyboard matrices and memory boards — anywhere a row of identical pull-ups is needed.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Silver	2–5 g/lb	calculated — Ag/Pd conductor paste is a few percent of part mass
Palladium	0.2–0.7 g/lb	Ag/Pd conductor pastes run roughly 70:30 to 90:10 Ag:Pd; per-part loading unpublished

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $22.2 per pound of contained metal — Palladium 0.4 g = $16.5, Silver 3 g = $5.70. A refiner paying $8 returns about 36% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Hot air 320–350 °C

Hot air at 320–350 °C lifts SIPs quickly; a solder sucker works too since the pins are in one line. Crush and leach with nitric first, then treat the insoluble residue with aqua regia for the palladium.

Hazards

☠ Lead — dust more than fume

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

🪚 Fibreglass and board dust

NEVER dry-cut boards indoors without extraction.

💨 Fumes, ventilation and open flame

NEVER burn boards, wire insulation or plastic. Ever.

Before you scrap it

Specific vintage Bourns and Dale part numbers for retro repair sell $1–3 each; common values are near worthless.

The common trap

The resistive stripes are ruthenium oxide, which sounds valuable but is present in microgram quantities and is refractory. Nobody pays for it — don't confuse RuO₂ with a platinum-group payday.

Questions

How much gold is in thick-film resistor networks (sip/dip)?

Silver: 2–5 g/lb. Palladium: 0.2–0.7 g/lb. At current spot that is about $22.2 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify thick-film resistor networks (sip/dip)?

Palladium, not silver, is where the money hides — the Ag/Pd conductor paste under the terminations is worth more per gram than the entire silver content.

How do you remove thick-film resistor networks (sip/dip) safely?

Is thick-film resistor networks (sip/dip) worth more working than as scrap?

Specific vintage Bourns and Dale part numbers for retro repair sell $1–3 each; common values are near worthless.

Related in ICs & chips

Ceramic IC — gold lid + gold legs ICs & chips · $500–650/lb Au 3–8 g/lb wholeAg 0.5–3 g/lbBase Kovar S Gold flat packs (military / aerospace) ICs & chips · $400–900/lb Au 3–10 g/lbAg 1–4 g/lb S Thick-Film Hybrid Microcircuits ICs & chips · $15–90/lb Au 1.5–4 g/lb packaged; 5–10 g/lb stripped substratesAg 0–15 g/lb on Ag/Pd conductor variantsPd present in Ag/Pd pastes S BGA with gold tab / gold-corner BGA ICs & chips · $60–110/lb Au 1.0–2.0 g/lbAg 0.3–1 g/lb A Ceramic BGA / CCGA ICs & chips · $120–250/lb Au 1–3 g/lbAg 0.5–2 g/lbBase alumina A Ceramic CCD/CIS Image Sensors ICs & chips · $150–400/lb Au 0.02–0.15 g per ceramic package ≈ 1.8 g/lbAu under 0.001 g per mobile/webcam moduleBase Nd-Fe-B in VCM actuators A

Get this offline → The full guide runs in your browser with no signal, and you can add your own photos.