FWIW: I keep receiving updates from Mouser regarding the LM3886T/NOPB order I placed with them in January. They still plan to ship in September. Good things come to those who wait (and place their orders early). I placed an order with Digikey as well to make sure I can keep my business going. The ship date for that is sometime next Spring I think.
TI is making the parts as fast as they can. But they're doing that for many, many parts and fab capacity is limited. The supply chain issues are not limited by the fab capacity alone. It's also limited by the suppliers of the lead frames (the metal bits in the ICs), the mould compound, etc. ... and also of neon(!) as that's used in the lasers that are in the fab. Turns out Ukraine produced 90% of the world's supply of neon and we all know what's going on there.
On a related note, the NXP micro controllers I ordered in early April of 2021 now have a ship date in July of 2023... Yee-haw! Welcome to the New World. 🙂
Tom
TI is making the parts as fast as they can. But they're doing that for many, many parts and fab capacity is limited. The supply chain issues are not limited by the fab capacity alone. It's also limited by the suppliers of the lead frames (the metal bits in the ICs), the mould compound, etc. ... and also of neon(!) as that's used in the lasers that are in the fab. Turns out Ukraine produced 90% of the world's supply of neon and we all know what's going on there.
On a related note, the NXP micro controllers I ordered in early April of 2021 now have a ship date in July of 2023... Yee-haw! Welcome to the New World. 🙂
Tom
Now that has some authority and details...so the rest can get less anxious.
Thanks, Tom.
Neon... can be made in a steel plant air separation system, purity is an issue.
Raw material is atmospheric air, process cost is the issue.
UV-C LED lasers, 265 nm? Close to the 248 nm emission of DUV neon lasers.
🤔?
Thanks, Tom.
Neon... can be made in a steel plant air separation system, purity is an issue.
Raw material is atmospheric air, process cost is the issue.
UV-C LED lasers, 265 nm? Close to the 248 nm emission of DUV neon lasers.
🤔?
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I'm Interested in buying one or two for a pair of my own studio monitors I am repairing. I'm a lurker here and don't currently have a way to direct message.
Thanks anyhow! If anyone else has one or two still available, I'd love to get my hands on some.
I have so many "unanswerable" questions - how many of what chips are being made, who's buying them and how much are they paying? It's surely above the "list price" for the quantity. I recall when the Mazda Miata came out, demand exceeded supply and they were selling at several thousand dollars ABOVE list price.
I'm imagining the most profitable chips are being made at whatever quantity they can be sold at, and other chips made at lower quantity, if they're being made at all (!). I can't imagine how else one-year deliveries turn into two years - it's more profitable to sell them to someone else, or more profitable to make some other chip and leave smaller customers high and dry.. Adafruit is doing "Chip Shortage" videos on chips they ordered over a year ago and are late on delivery. One of them is the AVR 8-bit microcontroller (!) for Arduino-compatible boards, something I thought would be on an older process that wouldn't have such high demand. But Adafruit orders are in the thousands, whereas Big Companies (such as auto makers) order in quantities of millions and can afford to pay double or triple (my guesstimate, of course) what they paid three years ago to assure they get their parts.
Regarding the LM3886, I sure hope the original continues to be made by TI. I've read about knockoffs of the XR2206 made since the original maker discontinued it, and their performance is FAR below the original datasheet. If the original LM3886 doesn't again become available, I hate to think of what will be sold with the part number "LM3886" on it.
I forget how neon is used in semiconductor manufacture, but it's not in the exposure lasers. This video describes the EUV light source used for the densest chips. This Asianometry Youtube channel has several good videos on semiconductor manufacturing.
I'm imagining the most profitable chips are being made at whatever quantity they can be sold at, and other chips made at lower quantity, if they're being made at all (!). I can't imagine how else one-year deliveries turn into two years - it's more profitable to sell them to someone else, or more profitable to make some other chip and leave smaller customers high and dry.. Adafruit is doing "Chip Shortage" videos on chips they ordered over a year ago and are late on delivery. One of them is the AVR 8-bit microcontroller (!) for Arduino-compatible boards, something I thought would be on an older process that wouldn't have such high demand. But Adafruit orders are in the thousands, whereas Big Companies (such as auto makers) order in quantities of millions and can afford to pay double or triple (my guesstimate, of course) what they paid three years ago to assure they get their parts.
Regarding the LM3886, I sure hope the original continues to be made by TI. I've read about knockoffs of the XR2206 made since the original maker discontinued it, and their performance is FAR below the original datasheet. If the original LM3886 doesn't again become available, I hate to think of what will be sold with the part number "LM3886" on it.
I forget how neon is used in semiconductor manufacture, but it's not in the exposure lasers. This video describes the EUV light source used for the densest chips. This Asianometry Youtube channel has several good videos on semiconductor manufacturing.
You could find out shipment details from industry sites, the manufacturers (SEC filings), or the government tax records, imports and shipments from plants are recorded I think.
Neon is used in helium - neon light sources to generate Deep UV for the etching process. They are described as lasers in some postings.
Neon gets contaminated over time, and is released back into the atmosphere. So a replenishment is continually needed.
For some reason, steel plants seem to be the best location for neon plants.
Look it up.
YouTube videos, anybody can make them...including teenagers.
So be skeptical about their content, that applies to all videos.
Neon is used in helium - neon light sources to generate Deep UV for the etching process. They are described as lasers in some postings.
Neon gets contaminated over time, and is released back into the atmosphere. So a replenishment is continually needed.
For some reason, steel plants seem to be the best location for neon plants.
Look it up.
YouTube videos, anybody can make them...including teenagers.
So be skeptical about their content, that applies to all videos.
I highly doubt you'll find records of the contents of each individual shipment in the SEC filings. Have you ever looked at them? They're pretty mundane shareholder information (P&L, balance sheet, major stock trades by executives, etc.).
Once the shipment exceeds some value (e.g., $2k CAD for Canada) the company will need to report it to the government. I'm assuming that's so they can calculate the trade balance and such. There's no requirement to list part numbers - at least not on the Canadian paperwork. You can read more here: https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/services/cers-scde/menu-eng.html
The contents of shipments within a company is likely considered confidential company information. I mean... Think about it. It wouldn't take much digging to figure out the sales volume of a given part by monitoring the shipments if that information was made public. Sales numbers are generally closely guarded secrets. Even as a design engineer at TI I wasn't privy to that sort of information.
Same goes for posts here. 😉 Of course, though experience one can learn who's likely to contribute with a high SNR and who ... isn't.
Tom
As a registered GST payer, I can log in, put in the number I want to check, and get details from the government portal about the entity I need information about.
Directors / owners, addresses of units, turnover (sales), and other basic stuff.
I can find out shipping details like item, declared value, import port and date and so on from business information sites for imports and exports.
More details will involve a small fee to be paid to the site.
I assumed, wrongly it seems, that this can be done in other countries as well.
After #161, post #166 was irritating, hence #167.
Peace out.
Directors / owners, addresses of units, turnover (sales), and other basic stuff.
I can find out shipping details like item, declared value, import port and date and so on from business information sites for imports and exports.
More details will involve a small fee to be paid to the site.
I assumed, wrongly it seems, that this can be done in other countries as well.
After #161, post #166 was irritating, hence #167.
Peace out.
I'm skeptical about he-ne lasers generating "Deep UV" light. I've got one or two sitting around and they generate red-orange light, on the long end of the visible spectrum, nowhere near the short wavelength needed.
Okay, I checked, neon IS used in these lasers, but not with helium:
https://www.advancedsciencenews.com/understanding-the-science-behind-the-neon-shortage/
Maybe you'll think this company has a better reputation than various teenager youtubers, though I find this video to be more watered down:
Even if you can get parts many have gone up in price.
I think I was paying just a few pounds for ad9201 and now they are £15 + vat in a few places.
Looked up Ali Express and they are £1 each ! and work ok.
Been looking elsewhere for some components likes caps. £2 for 4700uf 35v at RS and 60p each on ebay.
£1.25 for USB sockets at RS and 25p at CPC.
I have found if buying off ebay then buying small quantities isnt always best way.
I was after some BAT85 diodes and if I buy a 100 they are just a couple of pence each.
I think I was paying just a few pounds for ad9201 and now they are £15 + vat in a few places.
Looked up Ali Express and they are £1 each ! and work ok.
Been looking elsewhere for some components likes caps. £2 for 4700uf 35v at RS and 60p each on ebay.
£1.25 for USB sockets at RS and 25p at CPC.
I have found if buying off ebay then buying small quantities isnt always best way.
I was after some BAT85 diodes and if I buy a 100 they are just a couple of pence each.
Buy them in reels, or in packets from Taiwan, better quality than some Chinese, not much extra in price.
USB sockets are wildly different in quality, from gold plated copper contacts to copper plated iron contacts. Be careful, buy top brand and material specification..
USB sockets are wildly different in quality, from gold plated copper contacts to copper plated iron contacts. Be careful, buy top brand and material specification..
Maybe US/Canada thing?
If a member in Europe or Asia is able to see inventory levels, that would be nice.
If a member in Europe or Asia is able to see inventory levels, that would be nice.
I buy almost exclusively from LCSC...which is why I know anything at all about KEC Semtech of the other brands 😄
I recently had to source some odd things like that.
BAT50 diodes, gave up and found a near-ish equivalent with leakage an order of magnitude higher - but worked fine, so unsure why the designers used a picoA diode verses a nanoA one.
Some OP10 which I found the only source to be a ebayer - totally legit, no cheap, but genuine.
Even some BC182"L" and the like, so I don't have to murder some leads, again Ebay sourced, genuine, probably pulls but meh...