TAIYO YUDEN Names Digi-Key Its “2007 Distributor of the Year”

TAIYO YUDEN INC., recently named Digi-Key Corporation – one of the world’s fastest-growing distributors of electronic components – as its “Distributor of the Year” in recognition of Digi-Key’s outstanding Year on Year growth of Taiyo Yuden product sales in calendar year 2007. With its global distribution agreement now in year three, Taiyo Yuden is pleased to report that Digi-Key’s sales of the company’s extensive line of passive components were up 70% compared to calendar year 2006.

“Such a dramatic sales increase of Taiyo Yuden products shows that Digi-Key is one of the world’s premier electronics distributors and that our confidence and trust in them is well-placed,” said Hisashi Oi, President & CEO at Taiyo Yuden (U.S.A.) Inc. “Every day, more design engineers around the world are using Digi-Key, which means even more design-wins and increased sales for Taiyo Yuden’s top-performing passive components including multi-layer ceramic capacitors, inductors and ferrite beads. We look forward to successful outcomes again this year, and for many years to come with our good partner Digi-Key.”

“Taiyo Yuden’s quality products and Digi-Key’s excellent customer service and logistics have proven themselves to be an unbeatable combination,” said Mark Larson, president of Digi-Key. “This combination plus the Taiyo Yuden / Digi-Key winning-team approach has worked well in meeting the global market’s diverse, rapid-turnaround electronic component needs.”

Supported by Digi-Key‘s global print and online catalogs, cutting-edge customer service and global logistics system, the sale of Taiyo Yuden capacitors, inductors and other passive components will in most cases offer same-day turnaround of prototype quantities to help accelerate development cycles and shorten time to market of new OEM products.

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Mouser Electronics Now Stocking New Moonstone™ Half-Watt White LEDs from Avago Technologies

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is now stocking the new half-watt cool white and warm white light emitting diodes (LEDs) from Avago Technologies, one of the largest producers of visible LEDs in the world and a leading supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial, and consumer applications. The ASMT-Mx60 LEDs are the newest addition to Avago’s Moonstone™ power LED series.

“One of Mouser’s core competencies is in working with our suppliers to ensure we have available inventory of their newest products for our engineering customers’ immediate design needs,” said Mike Scott, Mouser’s Vice President of Active Products. Avago’s new ASMT-Mx60 Half-Watt LEDs with an exposed heat sink pad allow engineers to simplify their solid-state lighting designs.”

Available in one of the industry’s thinnest packages, the LEDs provide solid-state lighting application designers with a robust and reliable package that provides high brightness illumination and easy installation. The high-performance, energy-efficient devices are capable of delivering an industry-best lumens-to-watt (lm/W) efficiency for half-watt power LEDs with 30lm (typical) and up to 43lm cool white light output at 150mA.

The ASMT-Mx60 LEDs are the industry’s first half-watt power LEDs capable of withstanding a high maximum allowable junction temperature (up to 145°C). With an exposed pad design, the LEDs feature a wide 110° viewing angle, smooth radiation pattern, and excellent heat transfer from the package to the motherboard, enabling the LEDs to be driven at a current of 150mA.

The LEDs also feature a robust Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) resistance of 16kV (HBM) and provide designers with an electrically neutral heat sink pad feature option, enabling easier thermal management and handling of LED arrays on a common substrate. The ASMT-Mx60 devices are ideal for use in applications requiring ultra-high brightness LEDs, such as sign backlighting, retail displays, commercial lighting, and accent marker lights, as well as specialty lighting applications including task and reading lights.

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Step-by-step guide to REACH underlines Farnell’s ongoing commitment to providing support on legislation

Farnell, the leading multi-channel, high service distributor supporting millions of engineers and purchasing professionals globally has produced a step-by-step guide to REACH regulations (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). The easy-to-read document, downloadable from the company’s Global Legislation website, is designed to support electronics design and other engineers in quickly assessing the impact of REACH, and understanding how to achieve compliance with the regulations.

Written in collaboration with ERA Technology, the guide condenses 280 pages of regulations into five easy-to-read pages and has already been adopted by AFDEC members, FBDi in Germany and NEDA in the United States as their recommended reference guide to customers. The guide is complimented by a PDF covering recent guidance around ‘Substances in Articles’.

Chris Robertson, Head of Reliability and Failure Analysis at ERA Technology, said: “REACH is the biggest regulatory upheaval to impact the manufacturing sector in over 25 years. This complex regulation is 280 pages long plus thousands more of official guidance. The Farnell Step-by-Step Guide to REACH distils this down to the essential things you need to know whatever your role in the supply chain – from component or material supplier to manufacturer of finished products.”

REACH, currently in its pre-registration phase, is an integrated system for Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals across the EU and currently covers an estimated 30,000 substances. The regulations aim to improve the protection of human health and the environment while maintaining competitiveness, and enhancing the innovative capability of the EU chemicals industry.

The introduction of the REACH step-by-step guide continues the comprehensive support and guidance provided by Farnell to the electronics industry on all matters relating to legislation. The company originally published a step-by-step guide to RoHS legislation in 2005 that has recently been updated and re-named the RoHS-Technical Guide. Its dedicated website is a source of information on many other pieces of legislation relevant to the electronics industry such as EuP, WEEE and the batteries directive.

Commenting on the introduction of the REACH step-by-step guide, Gary Nevison of Farnell said: “REACH is one of several major pieces of legislation and regulation impacting companies within the electronics sector. This guide aims to provide an easy-to-use resource that helps customers understand the complex regulations.” He continued: “As a major supplier of a broad range of components and other products to electronics design engineers, Farnell is ideally positioned to provide support on legislation, which is now, more than ever before, impacting how companies design and manufacture their end products.”

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Digi-Key Corporation Notes Success of Its PTM…Online, On Demand® Training Modules

When Digi-Key Corporation introduced its exclusive PTM…Online, On Demand® product training modules in June 2006, it was with the promise that its modest collection of 15 training modules was only the beginning of what was to come.

Two years later and true to its words, Digi-Key is pleased to announce that its collection of PTM…Online, On Demand PowerPoint/audio-based training presentations has now grown into a comprehensive library of more than 270 training modules, which cover a wide variety of supplier-specific technologies. Examples include ADI’s Intro to ARM7 Core and Microconverters, Altera’s Cyclone II FPGA, AVX/Kyocera Clock Oscillators, the Basics of Wire and Cable from Alpha Wire, and many more.

Originally introduced on Digi-Key’s flagship website, www.digikey.com, English versions of the training modules are now available on all of its 23 country-specific websites as well.

Developed and produced by Digi-Key with the cooperation of more than 80 participating supplier partners, these web-based learning tools vary in length from five to 60 minutes, with the average length being 16 minutes. Available 24/7/365, this unique learning tool was designed with the busy design engineer in mind, said Mark Larson, Digi-Key president and COO. Available in both audio and non-audio versions they can be viewed and/or listened to at the discretion of the user.

With the parts list, which is a part of the training module, engineers can easily link to product information pages where they can place an order as well as access specifications, pricing and availability information, available product photos and technical drawings, and datasheets.

This program is totally in keeping with Digi-Key’s goal of becoming a true one-stop shop, which serves all of our customers’ needs, said Larson. We are extremely pleased with its success.

At any given time, approximately 70 new modules are in varying stages of development. Future plans for Digi-Key’s PTM…Online, On Demand educational tools include program enhancements and improvements.

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Mouser Electronics Now Stocking New TI Power Management Products

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it continues to expand its portfolio of power management devices from Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI). Mouser and TI work hand-in-hand to ensure the availability of TI’s newest products through the distributor’s practice of same-day shipping with no minimum order requirement.

“In keeping with our goal to be engineer’s go-to source for the newest TI product introductions, Mouser is continuously adding new TI products to our portfolio,” said Mike Scott, Mouser Vice President of Active Products. “These power management products are just a few of the new TI products we have in stock and available for purchase.”

New power management products, including boost controllers, protection ICs, PFC controllers, and low drop-out regulators, are in stock and ready for immediate purchase through Mouser.

The TPS40210 and TPS40211 are non-synchronous boost controllers with a wide input voltage range from 4.5V to 52V. Suitable for topologies that require a grounded source N-channel FET, the devices feature programmable soft start, over-current protection with automatic retry, and programmable oscillator frequency.

The bq24315 is a highly integrated circuit designed to provide protection to Li-ion batteries from failures of the charging circuit. The IC continuously monitors the input voltage, input current, and the battery voltage, and provides the maximum amount of safety in the smallest solution size.

The UCC28060 and UCC28070 PFC controllers achieve high-efficiency ratings in applications ranging from multi-kilowatt communication, server and industrial systems, to digital TVs and PCs. The PFC controllers feature an input filter and output capacitor current cancellation that provides reduced current ripple for higher system reliability and smaller bulk, as well as a reduced EMI filter size.

The TPS78001 very-low-power low-dropout (LDO) linear regulator delivers 150mA of output current while consuming only 500nA of quiescent current or less than 40nA of ground current in shutdown mode. Adjustable output voltage, thermal shutdown, enable pin, and current limit make this the ideal device for 1- or 2-cell coin, 2-cell alkaline or single-cell lithium-ion battery powered applications.

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Farnell selected to promote Rohm’s leading semiconductor range

Farnell the leading multi-channel, high service distributor supporting millions of engineers and purchasing professionals globally, has signed a pan-European agreement with Rohm, the Japan based manufacturer of integrated circuits (ICs), discrete semiconductors, displays and passive components.

The new agreement provides access to more than 120 product lines from Rohm’s industry-leading range of passive components, ICs and discrete semiconductors. The devices offered include drivers and receivers, transistors, diodes, LEDs and laser diodes.

Farnell was selected as the ideal distribution partner to address applications for Rohm’s products due to their breadth of product portfolio and their strong and established pan-European structure that enables it to support customer applications across the continent. All of the new devices are available via the company’s website and are backed by comprehensive technical data and support. Next day delivery across Europe with no minimum order quantities or hidden shipping charges is guaranteed.

Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Marianne Culver, Group Director / Senior Vice President, Global Supplier Management, Premier Farnell commented: “Rohm is a highly regarded company within the electronic components market. With their leading range of ICs and discrete semiconductors coupled to Farnell’s supply chain and support proposition in Europe, we expect to achieve great success in helping design engineers select and source the optimum products for their applications.”

Christian Andre, President of Rohm Europe, said: “We are delighted to cooperate with an industry leader like Farnell. They will bring high levels of expertise and service to support the engineering community looking to design-in Rohm semiconductor devices”

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