The first completed BPC masks taped out on April 8, 1973, and HP had a fully functional microprocessor before the end of the year. The BPC was birthed just ahead of National Semiconductor's laughably slow PMOS-based PACE design, widely mis-credited as the first 16-bit single-chip microprocessor. The BPC is also noted as the first NMOS microprocessor and the first microprogrammed microprocessor. Intel, benchmark fabricator, would not arguably surpass the -3010 until the release of the 80286 in 1982.
The -3010 package is a completely unique ceramic LCC with 82 gold pins and a metal lid. The microprocessor also has a large heatsink, affectionately referred to by HP engineers as the 'Honda cylinder head'. Even when shrunken down to pocket-size, HP minicomputers still have a requisite shell of cast aluminum. As we like to say around here, HP hardware is truly designed to both execute and survive a nuclear war.
There is surprisingly little information about the -3010 available on the internet. HP never licensed the device to other companies, condemning it to historical obscurity in spite of its extremely high technological significance. Most so-called CPU museums ignore its existence altogether, preferring instead to document yet another Intel chip. Even the Smithsonian fails to document the BPC, alternately regurgitating a secondary source which erroneously credits PACE as the first 16-bit microprocessor.
In addition to the nominal -3010 variant, there is also the 5061-3011, variant of the -3010 minus the EMC, designed as a language processor for the HP 9845A. The -3011 is additionally used as the CPU of the HP 4955A Protocol Analyzer. HP also introduced the 5061-3001, a 107-pin enhancement of the -3010 which adds an Address Extension Chip (AEC). The -3001 was originally designed as the central processor on the HP 9845B. An even earlier variant of the 82-pin design has been identified (09825-67907), which predates the correction of a well-documented ground bounce problem. Such examples are extremely rare.
There are two known lid variations seen on hybrid microprocessors. Earlier examples are equipped with a 'Type 1' lid, which has a dull finish and severe edges, while later examples have a 'Type 2' lid, which has a more polished finish and rounded edges. The -3001 also has a third 'grey trace' variation with a Type 2 lid. Such grey trace examples are quite rare, as they were both preceded and succeeded by more typical gold trace variations. Type 1 lids are affixed to the substrate with a range of questionable substances. Type 2 lids are always affixed with an ample machine-applied strip of epoxy.
HP A5061-3010 hybrid microprocessor, Type 1 lid, removed from the dual-processor CPU of a HP 9845A computer. The second processor is a 5061-3011 no-EMC variant.
D5061-3011 no-EMC variant hybrid microprocessor, designed as the Language Processing Unit (LPU) of the HP 9845A. Instead of the standard hybrid microcode, the -3011 has an onboard BASIC interpreter. This example has a later Type 2 lid.
Located in the triangular gap along the bottom row of pins, there is a small gold HP logo inside a heart, an indicator of its origin at HP's facility in Loveland, Colorado.
The 'Honda cylinder head', as installed in a HP 4955A Protocol Analyzer.
Two halves of the HP 9845B CPU, the Peripheral Processing Unit (top) and the Language Processing Unit. Both boards are equipped with identical D5061-3001 AEC variant hybrids.
D5061-3001 AEC variant hybrid microprocessor, grey trace variation with Type 2 lid. Both earlier and later gold trace variations also exist. Note the handwritten serial number, which is present on some examples while absent on others.
Closeup of elastomeric compression connectors, which consist of flexible elastomer cylinders wrapped in numerous gold wire loops.
C5061-3012 TACO tape drive controller, originally designed for the HP 9845. Like the -3011, this chip is heatsink-aligned to board-mounted elastomeric connectors, and is fabricated using a newer NMOS III process. There is a gold trace variation of this IC, as well as the unusual 'green trace' variation shown here. The -3012, and an 8-bit microcontroller marketed as a 'nanoprocessor' (1820-1692) are the only two relatives of the hybrid microprocessor currently known.
