Once again, qualified readers of EE Times and eeProductCenter www.eeProductCenter.com have selected the best of the best––the top products in each of seven categories in our quarterly Ultimate Products survey. The categories are Analog, RF & Microwave, Logic/Programmable Logic and Interfaces, Test & Measurement, Processors and Memory, Power and Interconnection/Passives and Electromechanical. The results highlighted here are for products introduced during the fourth quarter of 2006. Diverse products once again made the cut.

In Analog, Texas Instruments’ ADS5463 high–speed A/D converter sweeps the competition, boasting 12–bit/500–MSPS performance in a 14x14 mm package, all while dissipating just 2.25 W. Target applications include imaging, test and software–defined radio. For RF & Microwave, mobile TV is all the rage and Telegent Systems’ TLG1100 TV receiver chip is getting all the attention. While chip cost, the risk of being obsolete this year and the viability of mobile TV in general are voter concerns, the compact device is clearly a favorite.

In the realm of Logic/Programmable Logic and Interfaces, Applied Micro Circuits Corp. (AMCC) and its 3ware 9650SE SATA RAID controller family is a clear winner, though readers cite PCI–only support and its logic redundancy scheme as downsides. For Test & Measurement, AEMC Instruments takes gold with its Model OX 7104–CK Power Kit battery–powered, 100–MHz oscilloscope. While it reaps acclaim for usability and features, its cost, the dearth of offline functions such as playback and data transfer interfacing and environmental tolerances concern some voters.

For Processors & Memory, Texas Instruments once again comes to the fore with its TMS570 MCU, at the heart of which is the ARM Cortex R4. A device which one voter declares to be the target for other high–end automotive MCU vendors to shoot for, the TMS570 uses two identical Cortex R4 cores combined with an initial 2 Mbytes of on–chip flash memory. In Power, Vicor has clearly met a need with its line–up of 52 evaluation and validation boards featuring its BCM, PRM, and VTM V–I Chip power components, while in Interconnect/Passives & Electromechanical, DDP wins out with its SL3 series LED–based stack lamp for visual indication of machine status.

However, as one enthusiastic voter adds, “This [DDP] product has far more uses than industrial machine status. Examples include outdoor laser testing facilities, high RF radiating structures, exposed high voltage, etc.” That’s what engineers do so often: find a product and take its application beyond what the original product designers may have ever envisioned. Enjoy this latest round of Ultimate Product selections.

In case you were wondering, here’s how Ultimate Products works: Our editors select up to 10 of the most significant products posted at www.eeProductCenter.com during the calendar quarter. Then, using an electronic balloting process, we submit the products with the accompanying editorial reviews to selected, qualified readers. Those readers score the products by technical significance and usability on a scale of 1 through 5, with 5 being the highest score. The product ranked No. 1 in each category was judged as most technically significant for that category. Relative usability rankings and selected reader comments are also reported.

More than 1,000 of you helped to choose these products. As always, we are grateful for your enthusiastic participation.

Patrick Mannion
Managing Editor, Techonline Network and eeProductcenter.com
pmannion@cmp.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Analog ICs

Processors & Memory

IP&E

Logic & Programmable Logic

Power

RF & Microwave

Test & Measurement

THE ARCHIVE