The IC manufacturers suffered a wakeup call back in the 70s when
things were pretty hot with the cold war. It became a commonly held
belief that virtually all of the electronic devices in the country
would fail when faced with a nuclear attack. So, a hustle was begun
to harden all of the IC's against EMP. It turned out to be pretty
easy to do. All they did was redesign the pads, which are specialized
circuits that connect to the outside world, so that they could safely
absorb the EMP. It had a beneficial effect on static electricity
survival too! So, if you do a good job of keeping the EMP from
coupling in through large antennas, power connections, etc. The IC's
pads should be able to do the rest. Power FET's are similarily
protected, so they should be a good bet in an environment where EMP is
a possibility.

During the 70s I did notice a lot of IC & FET failures in various
communications devices that were attributed to static electricty. I was
under the impression that the manufacturers had improved their designs
for that reason? On the other hand, doesn't really matter, I suppose,
since the end results help for both cases.

I'll probably continue my research on this project and start it this
Fall, if for no other reason than the fun of it. From what responses I'm
hearing to my original question, I'd be better off using conventional
tubes over the low voltage designs. I did want something that would
function off a 12V battery, though. We'll see....

My thanks to all.


Ed K7AAT