Jack,

I'm going to take a WAG at the "U" (I must admit I never thought about
it before!) and suggest that it comes from Signetics and or Fairchild
who may have produced the first commercial integrated circuits.
Signetics called theirs UTILOGIC and Fairchild called theirs
MICROLOGIC.

Also, the word MICRO can be abbreviated with the Greek letter mu (U)
and you have to admit, integrated circuits are pretty small.

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Olson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: January 10, 2000 1:22 PM
Subject: [DC] Reference Designators


: Something I overheard this morning got me wondering...
:
: Have any of you been around long enough to know why a diode would
have a
: designator of CR? What does the CR mean?
:
: What does the U mean on an Integrated Circuit?
:
: Is the K on relays arbitrary since R is used by resistors?
:
: Does anyone really use P anymore for plugs?
: (everything I've seen lately is J on connectors, no matter if it is
a socket
: or a plug)
:
: What do you use for submodules or subassemblies?
:
: Not really important, I was just curious....
:
: Jack
: