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Most interesting recent products / improvements?

If I'd put a $2.90 part on a design without a serious reason such as "the world would stop spinning if we didn't", many of my client would have my head examined :-)

Sure looks like it ...

I wouldn't either, and I really don't like BGAs. If it doesn't come in QFP or something then I typically won't design it in. Seen too much grief with BGA.

I guess you assume domestic production. That's expensive, even worse in Europe. But in China, very different thing. Many folks don't know, there was even one guy here in the NG who just refused to believe that 5% resistors would make sense anymore. They do, seriously.

And if you don't sequence them meticulously a $100 FPGA blows its lid?

Oh man, I am glad I am an analog dude :-)

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg
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Meanin' lots of sloppy coding and bloat :-(

And some ultra-cheap ones lay on one spectacular pyrotechnic show when the super-cheap electrolytics in there give up.

Don't get me started. Now they banned lightbulbs, starting Tuesday. I guess that'll save 0.0001% of carbon-dioxide over there. Pathetic.

Where? My last quote was almost $2k, two (!).

Rohm and NJR are pretty good though. The English in the datasheets can be a bit rocky though, occasionally to the point where stuff becomes ambiguous.

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Regards, Joerg

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Reply to
Joerg

I don't know, if he means $100-$200 per PCB, or maybe small PCBs? pcb-pool.de: 5 eurocards (160x100), 4 layers, each one for 84 Euro, but in

8 days, 5 days is more than twice as expensive. But you get a free laser stencil, too and the quality is always very good. They accept many formats, without the need for you to convert it to gerber files. I've downloaded their Eagle policy file for electrical rule check and there was nearly never any questions. Only once, when I submitted the schematic file instead of the board file at a sleepy night :-)

And using their reflow kit is nice for prototypes, because it is faster and looks better than hand soldering.

--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
Reply to
Frank Buss

Oh, then they must have adjusted their prices. When I checked one or two years ago they were expensive compared to the places over here. Mostly I used this place:

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Interesting. Especially since I just finished a design and (so far) have no idea who can solder it. It's mostly 0603 and some TSSOP pitch stuff.

In case anyone else wonder what this reflow kit is:

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Hey, I guess when done we could bake a pizza for the guys in the oven :-)

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

Is TI the new Maxim?

John

Reply to
John Larkin

These threads concerning bad products and worse "support" should be copied to the appropriate management.

Perhaps a new usenet group: sci.electronis.dud-products ?:-)

Nothing has come of it yet, but I am recently seeing inquiries of the form, "Can you design a replacement for this part? But fix..."

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC\'s and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

No, then you could not even buy a reel :-)

Other than that TI has been fairly good to me. And the THS4021 opamps work like a champ. Two years and counting.

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

Usually gets ignored :-(

I receive the same requests but for circuit board designs. Roughly 50% of my work consist of redesign of someone else's design. Keeps food on the table so no complaints here :-)

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Regards, Joerg

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Joerg

That springy thing you use to check your oil level. Like a d**ch* nozzle, but less useful.

All those unidirectional jobs with a 245 in the part number work and are cheap. I guess that's a bad thing.

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Hi, Phil:-

Check out page 16 of 20, top right paragraph:

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Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Yikes! What a bag-o-worms.

John

Reply to
John Larkin

Interesting drive requirements. So was this really just some 50-75 ohm [coax] level converter for some prior client?

It does say on the front page that one of the applications is: "Portable POS systems." And we know what POS may stand for.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Kirwan

Gotcha. 100 LSTTL unit loads.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

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Reply to
Phil Hobbs

Nah, TI has cost us a fortune. Maxim hasn't. ;-)

Reply to
krw

Even if it replaced six parts worth $12?

I know I won't get any argument about this here on SED. ;-)

BGAs haven't caused us *too* much grief. QFNs are the ones that drive us nuts. The larger Actel parts ($2.90, above) are in QFP-100s.

We do our own.

They don't for us - inventory. A reel of 5,000 1% resistors is less than $10 from DigiKey, of all places.

Not so much anymore. Actel (and ALtera, IIRC) parts are guaranteed to not need sequencing. Actel even supports hot plugging.

No FPGAs in the above. The analog circuits take about half of the above supplies.

Reply to
krw

You should work with or examine the work of those that succeed at it then.

Reply to
AtTheEndofMyRope

What are the problems with BGA? I think there is no modern complex consumer device without BGAs.

Hardcore technicians can desolder and solder BGAs even by hand, without expensive equipment:

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Maybe it's more complicated, if you use 0.4 mm pitch BGAs, and package-on-package PCBs:

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I wonder how many stacks they can do? Building a full computer with separate CPU, flash and RAM chips with the size of a sugar cube would be nice :-)

--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de
Reply to
Frank Buss

Any good advices on QFNs?

M
Reply to
TheM

On a sunny day (Sat, 29 Aug 2009 05:47:24 +0200) it happened Frank Buss wrote in :

Amazing!

Reply to
Jan Panteltje

Yeah, if at all possible, don't use 'em. Unfortunately, it's not possible. :-(

Reply to
krw

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