Stoppers seal tubes and protect J-Lead and QFP devices in carriers against mechanical damage and ESD. Intel® uses black stoppers that match the tube dimensions. When inserting stoppers, follow these guidelines:

• Before transporting or storing devices, seat stoppers firmly into both ends of the tube.
• For easy removal, push stopper teeth fully inside the tube, with the grip extending outside. Do not insert the stopper completely inside the tube (refer to the Stopper Properly Inserted into a Tube figure).
• To prevent devices from moving inside an incompletely filled tube, insert foam between the parts and stopper.

The following figure shows how you can properly insert a stopper in a tube.

To reduce the risk of damaging leads, some special stoppers are designed to fit into a tube in only one way. It is important to insert these special stoppers correctly with the grip in the same direction as the leads, as shown in the following figure.

The following table lists the part numbers for Intel® -approved black stoppers for J-Lead devices.

To prevent damage to leads during shipping, tubes containing 208-, 240-, and 304-lead Power Quad Flat Pack (RQFP) packages in carriers must have modified stoppers. These modified stoppers are used just like other stopper although they have a notch cut out of them, refer to the following figure.

The following table lists the part numbers for Intel® -approved black stoppers for QFP devices in carriers.