Components getting smaller
Cluso99
Posts: 18,069
Toshiba announced a new family of LDO Voltage Regulators 420mA.
ultra-small plastic mold WCSP4E package (0.645mmx0.645mm (typical); t:0.43mm (max))
Even with glasses I am not going to be able to see them !!!
The input and output caps are going to be bigger. And where is that power going to be dissipated, even 200mV at 400mA = 80mW in a package you basically cannot distinguish from a grain of sand.
Hand assembly - nope
http://www.eejournal.com/industry_news/toshiba-announces-new-cmos-ldo-voltage-regulators/
ultra-small plastic mold WCSP4E package (0.645mmx0.645mm (typical); t:0.43mm (max))
Even with glasses I am not going to be able to see them !!!
The input and output caps are going to be bigger. And where is that power going to be dissipated, even 200mV at 400mA = 80mW in a package you basically cannot distinguish from a grain of sand.
Hand assembly - nope
http://www.eejournal.com/industry_news/toshiba-announces-new-cmos-ldo-voltage-regulators/
Comments
Full circle, all these silicon chips come from sand! Amazing miniaturization.
Moore's Law wins again.
I guess our mistake was not building some robots that can so some line following on the traces of a PCB and place the parts for us, before our eyesight starts failing!
I think I am going back to tube circuits....
I've noticed more of these sorts of packages, and where that's the ONLY choice for that part code ?!
Power density HAS to be a big issue here, and I was attracted to a new '1117' variant for that reason.
ST have
LDL1117S33R SOT223 250uA Iq 18V Max in
(no problems finding this, and it can spread the heat ! ), but is still low cost at ~ 10c/2k5
This can easily power P1, and probably many P2 applications too... before you need to bump to a SMPS.
Nice find. I prefer the SOT-23 or next smaller.
Can we get one over time like the old Franklin Mint subscriptions (or whoever did "Star Trek"-character-figurine-of-the-month)?
Say each month you'd get 100 vacuum tubes (and the corresponding parts) a month.
That would spread the project out (and the cost) over about 15 years.