Central Semiconductor — MIL-PRF-19500-equivalent JAN-level discrete transistor & diode sourcing

• 1974
  Founded
• Hauppauge, NY
  Headquarters
• AEM Holdings
  Ownership
• 55464
  CAGE Code
• MIL Equivalent
  19500 Program
• ISO 9001:2015
  Quality System

About Central Semiconductor

Central Semiconductor Corp. was founded in 1974 by Jack Radgowski and spent its first years as a private-label manufacturer building discretes for leading component brands, before establishing the Central Semiconductor name in its own right. Fifty-plus years later, the company still operates from the same Long Island base at 145 Adams Avenue, Hauppauge, New York 11788. The company was family-owned until February 21, 2023, when it was acquired by AEM Holdings, a portfolio company of Industrial Growth Partners (IGP); prior owners of record were Susan Ryan and Tom Radgowski. Under AEM, Central continues to operate under its own brand and runs wafer processing, device assembly and 100% electrical test in-house.

Central's market position sits at the intersection of two things the modern discrete industry tends to leave behind. First, trailing-edge and legacy discretes — the 2N-series bipolar transistors, small-signal diodes, zeners, thyristors and even germanium devices that long-life-cycle industrial, medical, avionics and defense platforms still consume decades after the original mainstream sources have exited. Trailing-edge devices represent nearly 25% of Central's sales. Second, Central has invested heavily in leading-edge miniature discretes: the company was first in the industry to manufacture a dual DMOS FET in an SOT-563 package, and pioneered a sub-1.0 mm Schottky rectifier by assembling its own chip into a proprietary SUBone™ SOD-323 package. Surface-mount devices account for roughly 70% of revenue. For high-reliability customers, Central's value proposition is not that it is a JAN-qualified source — it is not — but that it operates a full in-house up-screening line that mirrors the MIL-PRF-19500 methodology and delivers JAN-equivalent-flow devices on Central's own die. Central holds ISO 9001:2015 certification and carries CAGE Code 55464.

MIL-PRF-19500 quality levels — and how Central's equivalents map

MIL-PRF-19500 is the U.S. Department of Defense performance specification for hermetically-sealed discrete semiconductor devices — diodes, rectifiers, transistors, thyristors, SCRs, and TVS devices — administered by the DLA Land and Maritime office in Columbus, Ohio (successor to DSCC-VQ). The specification defines a stack of ascending product-assurance levels indicated by the prefix on a part number. The table below shows the formal JAN hierarchy alongside the Central up-screening prefixes that most closely map to each level:

On top of the older per-part Qualified Products List (QPL), the DoD now operates a line-level Qualified Manufacturers List (QML). Central does not currently participate in either. For JANS parts, MIL-PRF-19500 further defines eight Radiation Hardness Assurance (RHA) levels (M, D, P, L, R, F, G, H) encoded as a single character in the JANS part number, mapping to Total Ionizing Dose guarantees from 3 krad(Si) up to 1 Mrad(Si). Central's Spacellite™ family is not RHA-graded in the formal JANS sense; its Spacellite-Commercial variant is a radiation-tested commercial device aimed at Low Earth Orbit (LEO) mission profiles rather than the full deep-space RHA envelope.

Central Semiconductor discrete product families

Central's discrete portfolio is unusually broad for an independent U.S. discrete house and spans small-signal through power, silicon through wide-bandgap, and current-generation surface-mount through trailing-edge legacy. The families most commonly requested against MIL-PRF-19500 up-screening flows are listed here by device type. In line with buyer intent, this page lists part families rather than individual JAN or Central part numbers — specific part-number availability is confirmed on quote.

Small-signal bipolar transistors

Central manufactures a deep catalog of NPN and PNP small-signal BJTs in metal-can (TO-18, TO-46, TO-78), through-hole plastic and full surface-mount packages. The 2N-series general-purpose transistor lineage is a large part of this catalog and is the typical target for JXL and EX up-screening (for example JXL2N2222A).

Bipolar power transistors, Darlingtons and FETs

NPN and PNP power BJTs, Darlington transistors, N- and P-channel MOSFETs, JFETs and dual DMOS FETs, in through-hole metal-can (TO-66) and modern surface-mount packages. Central was the first in the industry to build a dual DMOS FET in an SOT-563 package. These families are the most common targets for defense power-supply, motor-drive and instrumentation up-screening.

Diodes, switching diodes and Schottky rectifiers

Small-signal switching diodes, general-purpose rectifiers, silicon Schottky rectifiers — including Central's proprietary sub-1.0 mm SUBone™ SOD-323 Schottky — and specialty structures such as germanium diodes for the few end-markets still consuming germanium in production. Diodes are naturally hard against TID effects to roughly 10⁶–10⁷ rad(Si), which is why they are frequently the first Central family accepted into JAN-equivalent flows.

Zeners (CPZ), SCRs (CPS) and TRIACs (CPQ)

Zener voltage regulators and precision references (Central process prefix CPZ), silicon-controlled rectifiers (CPS) and TRIACs (CPQ), available in both surface-mount and through-hole packages for regulation, phase control, motor control and switching.

TVS, CLDs and Multi-Discrete Modules (MDM™)

Transient Voltage Suppressors and other EOS protection devices for I/O and power-bus clamping; Current Limiting Diodes (CLDs), where Central is stated as the only manufacturer of high-current variants; and custom Multi-Discrete Modules (MDM™) that integrate two or more Central discrete devices into a single package to save board area and simplify test, typically delivered under either Central catalog or CEN customer part numbers.

Related MIL specifications and DLA references

Central Semiconductor's up-screening programs interact with several adjacent DoD performance specifications and DLA drawing systems:

• MIL-PRF-19500 — discrete semiconductor devices; the reference standard Central's JXL / EX / HC / KC flows are designed to match
• MIL-PRF-38534 — hybrid microcircuits; the reference standard Central's Class H and Class K bare-die flows (CCS983 / CCS986) are designed to match
• MIL-STD-750 — test methods for discrete semiconductor devices, invoked by both MIL-PRF-19500 and Central's equivalent flows (methods 2069, 2070, 2072, 2073 for visual)
• MIL-STD-883 — test methods for microcircuits, invoked by MIL-PRF-38534 and by Central's Class H (method 2011 Condition D wire pull) and Class K (method 2010 visual) flows
• PEMS-INST-001 / PEM-INST-001 — the Plastic Encapsulated Microcircuit / Semiconductor screening instruction that underpins Central's EX test level and Spacellite qualification
• DLA Standard Microcircuit Drawings (SMDs, 5962- series) — the DLA drawing system used to identify pre-qualified die and package combinations
• CAGE Code 55464 — Central Semiconductor Corp., 145 Adams Avenue, Hauppauge, NY 11788-3603

Trademark and affiliation notice. All company names, product names, and trademarks referenced on this page are the property of their respective owners. Hybrid Electronics Corporation is an independent stocking distributor and sourcing agent; we are not a distributor, reseller, agent, licensee, partner, or authorized service provider of Central Semiconductor Corp. unless expressly stated. Component sourcing is subject to availability and inspection. Hybrid Electronics does not sell counterfeit parts and does not offer repair services. MIL-PRF-19500 and JAN quality-level designations are administered by the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).