Never Buy Maxim (again)

Oct 13, 2013 126 Replies

Maxim makes an opamp, MAX44280, that has a specified input capacitance of 0.4 pF. That would be great in some apps where Cin causes noise-gain peaking.



I figured I'd give Maxim another chance, after being s*****d by them in the past.



So I went online and filled out their sample request. The process makes no sense, website runaround, but eventually I got it done.



Two days later I got an email to the effect that the sample request was waiting for a product-line manager approval. I responded and asked why, and was told that it was standard internal procedure and would take only another 24 hours.



OK, a week later I got two samples, packaged in a short tube and wrapped in a ball of sticky masking tape.



These opamps, like most Maxim parts, have nonstandard pinout. I built a test fixture to measure Cin. With power off, I measured 1.4 pF on the non-inverting input pin. I powered it up and the opamp didn't act anything like an opamp. I checked everything three times and figured the amp was blown, so I tried to replace it. It's an SC70, really tiny, and my tweezers slipped and I pogoed it into the carpet, never to be seen again.



The sales engineer emailed me to see how the samples were coming along, and I told him the situation. He promised to get me 10 more ASAP. Then he called back with a technical guy. I explained my setup. I'm using +-2.5 volt supplies, and the technical guy said that this is a single-supply opamp and might not be qualified for dual-supply operation. He said he'd contact the designers or something. I asked him how they defined and measured the 0.4 pF Cin, and he said he'd find out. They were due to call me last Monday.



So far, no more parts, no call.



John Larkin Highland Technology Inc www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Maybe try something novel like buying them next time:

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And miss out on all that tech support?

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Den søndag den 13. oktober 2013 21.34.32 UTC+2 skrev John Larkin:

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it uses a magic hidden ground pin to tell if it single or dual supply?

-Lasse

Exceding device ratings again? VSS is not spec'd out for negative voltages.

Cheers

Den søndag den 13. oktober 2013 23.10.05 UTC+2 skrev Martin Riddle:

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it doesn't have a ground pin so negative in relation to what?

-Lasse

Ah. Humor. Excellent.

John Larkin Highland Technology Inc www.highlandtechnology.com jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom timing and laser controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

Sno-o-o-ort >:-} ...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

They did inform you that you're trying to use a single-supply op-amp on dual supplies. That kind of advice is hard to put a value on.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

Makes you wonder about the technical competence of Maxim "tech support" staff AND the users of such crap. ...Jim Thompson

| James E.Thompson | mens | | Analog Innovations | et | | Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus | | San Tan Valley, AZ 85142 Skype: Contacts Only | | | Voice:(480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat | | E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 | I love to cook with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food.

The floor you and they stand on is the support.

Like the virtual ground in the uA709..

now THAT popped a stitch! typed with difficulty seeing through the tears of laughter.

Who measures capacitance of a part that is powered down? Doh! There are diodes that need to be reverse biased ya know.

Do you have someone who works for you that is, well you know, a competent electrical engineer? Perhaps you are not suited for electrical engineering. Have you considered software?

Of course, but I measured it first, powered down. Why not?

It wouldn't work like an opamp closed-loop, and I need that to measure the powered-up capacitance.

I've written a lot of code, but I prefer hardware design.

All the things that I posted are true.

Quit whining and show us some gear that you've designed... full of Maxim chips no doubt.

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation

It's called "characterizing the part". It is way beyond a libtard such as yourself to understand.

I'm curious about things like ESD capacitance. Given a test setup, why would anyone *not* want to measure the power-off capacitance, and then determine the C-V behavior?

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation

There's no reason they should die. On the contrary, they should be kept well away from electronic instruments so they don't hurt themselves.

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com http://www.highlandtechnology.com Precision electronic instrumentation Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators Custom laser drivers and controllers Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links VME thermocouple, LVDT, synchro acquisition and simulation

What do you expect. He worked for Maxim. ...probably maxim.com.

Ouch.. that hurts.

George H.

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