» A VERY CLEVER LITTLE DEVICE from a small company took top honors in terms of overall technical significance in this category. Many readers were intrigued by its potential and speculated on the range of applications it might spawn. Andigilog's innovation was first reviewed on March 11, on eeProductCenter.

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ANDIGILOG
Silicon thermistor; the little temperature sensor that could
eeProductCenter's Paul O'Shea says: "Andigilog managed to marry silicon with a thermistor to arrive at a new product they call a SiMISTOR. This trio of products provides +/-1°C accuracy at ambient, has an operating range from -40° to +125°C and is available in two styles of packaging-maybe the smallest in the industry. The company offers a two-pin version and a three-pin version of the product. The extreme accuracy provided is no small matter to designers. It is important for helping cell phones maintain lock in the PLL and for preventing smart batteries from exploding. It's also important for lap top computers because as they get smaller there is more heat in a smaller space, which can cause the processor to run slower or fail more quickly. So accuracy becomes more important to control these failures.
Readers say: » "Great idea!" » "The linear nature of this beast makes an obvious replacement for the thermistor." » "Nice to finally have a linear thermistor." » "Makes possible a wide spectrum of inexpensive wireless products." » "Linearity is the key feature."
USABILITY RANK: 1

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NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR
Online design tool for op amps -- Life just got easier
Paul O'Shea: "Amplifiers are big, really big, business- more than $2B. Unfortunately, that means that there is a plethora of choices from an abundance of suppliers. National Semiconductor has worked hard to bring to fruition a tool that will make you smile, because suddenly your job just got much easier."
Readers say: » "Sounds like a good tool to help entry analog designers get going." » "Not being a seasoned circuit designer, and only designing the simplest of circuits anyway, this is a great tool. The significant advantage is getting the circuit simulated and then getting the parts needed almost like magic. Thanks National." » "Very limited. What I usually need is help with difficult problems such as power amps, or high precision references." » "The business, logical, and philosophical purposes for which this tool was developed represent the new paradigm for U.S. engineering and electronics manufacturing in the new global economy." » "Here is a useful tool. A way to more quickly get the amp you need." » "This is likely to inspire me to check around before tossing in another 741. I will still use a breadboard to be sure, however."
USABILITY RANK: 2

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ANALOG DEVICES
First Digitally Programmable, Signal-Conditioning Auto-Zero Amplifier
Paul O'Shea: "The AD8555 op amp from ADI will be a big success in the year ahead. It's based on the company's DigiTrim technology, which allows in-circuit programming by the user. Many users that want this op amp capability are using various types of sensors especially pressure sensors. These customers will be glad to use this op amp because the wide variance in the manufacture of sensors forces users to hand-select resistors to adjust for sensor variations. Customers select the resistors."
Readers say: "Extremely general, easy-to-use part. Very impressive!" » "My rating is based on the implied cost of an end product that would incorporate this technology i.e. multiple sensor channels, external A/D and microcontroller, etc. Normally I stay away from one-time programmable devices but the key for this device is precision analog-you get precision analog for the price of one-time poly-fuse program technology. This is a super design and manufacturing solution for high-end, mission-critical sensor applications. Great innovation." » "It would be awesome to see one of these with higher supply voltages." » "Been asking for this part for years." » "Calibration aspect is interesting, but I would be much more interested if it used NVM instead of fuses."
USABILITY RANK: 3

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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
Fastest Fixed-Gain Amplifier for Video Signal Processing
Paul O'Shea: "The OPA693 took shape from requests that TI had from some high-end customers who had been using an earlier version op amp, the OPA692. The 692 is a 240 MHz part that also has internal resistors that is simple to use only requiring you to connect it and voila!, you get a gain of two. It is a very popular part but customers said that since the pixel rates are increasing there is a need for a 400 MHz part. This new part at 700 MHz ensures that over a process and temperature the customer can get a solid gain of 2, 400 MHz bandwidth op amp."
Readers say: "Could have used this for an instrumentation application and saved the SMPS for the dual-voltage amps I selected." » "Another competitor in an already crowded market with little new to offer." » "It would be nice to have more than one amp per package. Three would be ideal for RGB or component video." » "Sounds like a great part allowing greater video bandwidth and ease of use."
USABILITY RANK: 4

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ANALOG DEVICES
Data converters support motor control for industrial and automotive applications
Paul O'Shea: "Analog Devices Inc. introduced a trio of converters for motor control applications that require high precision. These converters solve challenges associated with current and voltage monitoring, optical encoder feedback, and resolver-to-digital conversion."
Readers say: "Low cost of the AD2S1200 makes it very attractive" » "Nice, I've been looking for something like this." » "Nice collection of parts for motor control. Way to go ADI. » "Beautiful example of engineering innovation."
USABILITY RANK: 6

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ELANTEC
Most Accurate High Speed Op Amps?
Paul O'Shea: "The Elantec EL515x series of op amps operate off split +/-5V or single 5 V to 12 V supplies. This family of devices sets a new standard for expectations of DC accuracy in high-speed op amps. With a worst-case voltage offset at under 1 mV and typically 0.3 mV, these devices also provide 0.1 uA maximum input bias current over a wide temperature range."
Readers say: "Very impressive and good pricing too." » "Good features and pricing."
USABILITY RANK: 5

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LINEAR TECHNOLOGY
Basestations profit from ADC that provides direct IF sampling up to 500MHz
Paul O'Shea: "A new 80 Msps, 14-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) from Linear Technology provides designers of cellular basestations with a dramatic improvement in dynamic performance. The LTC1750 greatly simplifies the design and reduces the cost of cellular basestations by eliminating the second intermediate frequency (IF) downconversion stage. The device provides wide input bandwidth and excellent dynamic performance for direct IF digitizing applications. The LTC1750 undersamples up to 500MHz input frequencies and delivers 84dB spurious free dynamic range (SFDR) with 140MHz inputs and 74dB SFDR with 350MHz inputs."
USABILITY RANK: 9

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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
Eight-channel, high-speed ADCs with serial LVDS interface has 70.5 SNR
Paul O'Shea: "The noise spec for the ADS527x family is pretty impressive and TI says it is seeing 70.5 dB SNR as typical. Achieving 70.5 SNR at the 123mW power levels is impressive. You can find 65MHz, 12-bit ADCs on the market that have good SNR, but they don't come close to the power level provided by TI. For data converters, power is the number one spec for improving SNR. So achieving high SNR and low power is a significant accomplishment."
Readers say: "Decent balance of design trade-offs, but expensive." » "My rating is based on the significance of the implied end product cost of a product utilizing this technology i.e. high speed FIFO's, high speed optical isolators, firmware decimators for sampling below 20 Msps, etc. That said, these parts solve some major multi-channel simultaneous sampling problems like a single sync clock input for each 8 channel module. Very impressive." » "I like the multiple channel feature."
USABILITY RANK; 7

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FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR
Triple Video Driver Offers HD/SD Filtering Capability and Multiple Video Input/Output Standards on a Single Chip
Paul O'Shea: "Fairchild Semiconductor announces the FMS6418A, a highly integrated, triple video driver that is selectable for High Definition (HD) or Standard Definition (SD) signal filtering. The FMS6418A is used to remove high frequency noise prior to digitizing the signal (anti-aliasing), or to remove artifacts introduced during D/A conversion in the encoder (reconstruction filtering) for either RGB or YUV signals."
Readers say: "The product is very interesting. Looks useful for preprocessing DAC inputs. Usefulness will depend on quality of the filters. Tristate filter control might be useful: SD, HD, bypass."
USABILITY RANK: 8

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WOLFSON MICROELECTRONICS
CODEC provides audio, touch-screen functions for smartphones
eeProductCenter: "Wolfson's WM9705 CODEC integrates a high performance audio CODEC with a 4-wire touch screen controller, complete with on-chip screen drivers. Pen-down detection features and pressure measurement capabilities are also provided delivering a convergence of audio and PDA facilities. The WM9705 allows audio, touch screen data, software interrupts, control address and data information to be transferred to and from a processor using a single 4-wire bi-directional AC-link interface."
USABILITY RANK: 10