the REF200 is a handy sort of thing... why don't more things like this exist?
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i could be cynical and say "because burr-brown got bought out by TI" but I don't think that's the reason, what is the raeson?
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It's been a while since I've used BB parts, but man, those things have lasted a long time, even if under a new name now.
Amusingly, I also just got done looking at the TPS92512 by TI for some LED lighting at home. :P
@zetasyanthis they're pretty good parts overall? like, TI parts are pretty good in general but the ones that used to be BB ones always felt extra good
kinda like how you just feel like you can trust a Fairchild part, even if they're owned by ON now
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100% agree. IRF also gives me the warm fuzzies. I know if I've got one of their MOSFETs, I'm golden.
@zetasyanthis Oh yeah, the IRF540 is basically our go-to FET whenever we need moderate power switching
it really is a shame that all these companies got bought out, ones like IXYS and Dallas Semi and International Rectifier and Siliconix and Dale and Sprague and
we're particularly upset about IXYS because Littelfuse shut down the entire IXYS RF division so you can't get parts like the IXDD415 or the IXRF630 anymore, which were the best gate drivers on the market
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@zetasyanthis I think the corporate buyout that feels the weirdest though is either that Altera is owned by Intel now, or that Microchip bought Atmel.
though Littelfuse buying IXYS is also pretty weird considering they seem like completely unrelated companies
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@Felthry For me it's the Adaptec->Microsemi->Microchip chain. Like... Microchip makes RAID controllers and PCIe switches now???
@zetasyanthis I don't think we've heard of adaptec!
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@Felthry Used to be 3COM, might know that name from the 90s?
for reference (pun not intended) the REF200 is a sorta mixed-utility chip, it has two fully isolated floating 100 μA (±0.5%, ±25ppm/°C) current references and a bipolar current mirror, which means that with zero additional parts and just through sticking pins together, you can get any of the following:
- 2x 100 μA sources + 1x current mirror
- 1x 200 μA source + 1x current mirror
- 1x 200 μA source + 1x 100 μA source
- 1x 300 μA source
- 1x 400 μA source
- 1x 100 μA source + 1x 50 μA source
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