Hello folks! hope all is well!

Below you will find 2 pictures of my daughter's toy phone. It is a very simple toy which has 3 buttons. When a button is pushed you hear a voice say "hello" or "bye" or "may i help you".
I had to open the toy this afternoon to but back a button that came off.
What amazed me was the lack of any huge circuitry inside ( as you can see in the pics)
there was just one small resistor on one side and a black blob of something on the other side.
Can you please tell me how the voice was put into this toy?
Can you also let me know what the black blob is?

thank you for your replies.

 

The black blob is the complete microcontroller chip that was preprogrammed with the desired voice messages.
The black blob is commonly seen in low cost high volume electronic devices such as pocket calculators, digital clocks, TV remotes, etc.

 

The black blob is the complete microcontroller chip that was preprogrammed with the desired voice messages.
The black blob is commonly seen in low cost high volume electronic devices such as pocket calculators, digital clocks, TV remotes, etc.

Is there an official name for these blob microcontrollers?

 

The chip is the same as other chips in the manufacturing process, only the packaging is changed.

When a chip is being made it is placed on a platform and connecting wires are bonded between the IC pins and the chip. It is then encapsulated in plastic, epoxy or other materials to give us the chips we commonly see.

With the "blob" the chip is mounted directly to the PCB and bond wires connected to the PCB traces. This is known as glob-top or chip-on-board (COB) assembly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_packaging

http://keshavchinna.blogspot.ca/2012/03/cob-ics.html

 

these blob chips are called " Cob Wired" chips, made on high speed machines then a blob of insulation potting compound is placed over it for protection..

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-chip-on-boards-are-made

 

Is there an official name for these blob microcontrollers?

AFAIK: its "COB" for "chip on board".

 

these blob chips are called " Cob Wired" chips, made on high speed machines then a blob of insulation potting compound is placed over it for protection..

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-chip-on-boards-are-made

Recently I found an all glass HD44780 compatible LCD module that was listed as "COG" for "chip on glass".

Its getting everywhere these days!