Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is stocking new product from STMicroelectronics. STMicroelectronics STM6600 Smart Push-Button On / Off Controllers with Smart Reset™ and power-on lockout protect against the hazards faced by battery-operated devices, such as smart phones, digital cameras, and media players. STM6600 On / Off Controllers enable and disable power for the application depending on push-button states, signals from the processor, and battery voltage. If the battery is excessively discharged or a fault is detected in the power supply, the IC blocks power-up.

These STMicroelectronics ICs also implement smart-reset capabilities to enable users safely recover gadgets that have frozen or crashed during normal operation. STM6600 Smart Push-Button On / Off Controllers connect directly to the power and reset buttons and have circuitry to prevent external interference such as electrostatic discharges. These STMicroelectronics devices feature a very low current consumption of 6 μA in normal operation and only 1 μA during standby, resulting in virtually no battery drain when the application is turned off.

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Industry’s smallest and highest performance buck-boost converter

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it is stocking the Texas Instruments TPS63020 Power Management IC.

The Texas Instruments TPS63020 power management IC is the industry’s smallest and highest performance buck-boost converter with a 4-A switch and up to 96 percent efficiency. The TI TPS63020 power management IC helps extend battery life in smartphones, portable medical equipment, DLP® pico projectors, and other battery powered multimedia devices. The TI TPS63020 buck-boost converter operates with a wide input voltage range of 1.8V to 5.5V and can discharge lithium batteries down to 2.5V or lower while maintaining excellent light load efficiency.

Also available from Mouser is the TI TPS63020EVM-487 evaluation module which is a fully assembled and tested circuit for evaluating the TPS63020 buck-boost converter with 4A switch. The TPS63020EVM-487 operates from a 1.8V to 5.5V supply and provides a 3.3V output.

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Programmable dual USB 2.0 host/slave System on Chip controller offers cost effective solution for lowering design component count

Alpha Micro Components, the independent franchised distributor of electronic components, announced today that it has added the Vinculum VNC2 from Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI) to its portfolio of products. The VNC2 is the latest addition to the Vinculum family of USB Host Controller ICs and suits a broad range of USB consumer and industrial related applications including camera, mobile accessories, data loggers, toys, keyboards, game controller interfacing, Point of Sale applications, medical devices and USB to USB bridges.

The VNC2 is a programmable dual USB 2.0 full speed Host/ Slave system on chip (SOC) controller which builds on, and enhances, the capacities and functionality of the VNC1L, the initial member of FTDI’s Vinculum family. This has been achieved while reducing the device cost as well as introducing the capability for designers to develop their own application firmware and programme the host controller themselves.

VNC2 comes with a fully supported software development tool suite which is wrapped up in a GUI Integrated Design Environment (IDE). This is a free of charge and royalty free software development environment – which includes a compiler, driver, libraries, RTOS kernel, linker and debugger, allowing designers to fully utilise the increased memory and multitude of communication protocols handled by VNC2. The software development toolkit is based on the ‘C’ language and provides a comprehensive suite of object files to provide support for USB host functionality including USB Flash Drive (B.O.M.S.) storage, HID, USB COMMs class and FAT File functionality.

Christos Papakyriacou, Managing Director of Alpha Micro Components, commented: “Alpha Micro has worked successfully with FTDI for the past 14 years and we are confident that the newest addition to the Vinculum product range will strengthen our product portfolio offering to design engineers. FTDI and its products have a very solid reputation within the engineering community due to the reliability and robustness of its drivers’. The VNC2 provides easy USB connectivity for a broad range of devices making it an ideal solution for designers across a vast array of industrial, automotive and medical applications.”

Additional features of the VNC2 include:
* Embedded 16-bit Harvard architecture MCU core, with 256KBytes of Flash memory and 16Kbytes RAM
* 2 x Full-Speed / Low-speed USB 2.0 ports supporting independently configurable Host or Slave operation
* 2 x slave Serial Peripheral Interfaces (SPI) and 1 x master SPI
* PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) interface
* Support for reduced power modes
* Multiple packages size options (32-/48-/64-pin QFN and LQFP packages)
* Backwards compatible with VNC1L with 48-pin LQFP package
* RoHS compliant, and extended temperature support (-40°C to +85°C)

» Contact details for Alpha Micro

Intelligent Mixed Signal ICs that Simplify Embedded System Designs

Mouser Electronics, Inc., known for its rapid introduction of the newest products, today announced it has signed an exclusive global catalog distribution agreement with Keterex, a developer of mixed-signal ICs and systems.

Mouser’s Keterex stock includes the KX1400 Audio Playback IC that plays pre-recorded 8KHz audio data directly to an external speaker via an on-chip digital audio processor and Class-D driver. It enables embedded systems designers to add voice prompts and sound effects to their design quickly and easily. Keterex’s KX1400 can be used in toys, games, building and industrial automation, alarm and security systems, and appliances.

Also in stock is the USB-910H, a USB-to-SPI/I2C Embedded Systems Interface that turns a PC into a SPI, I2C, SMBus, or parallel GPIO controller. Mike Scott, Mouser Vice President of Active Products, states, “We are pleased to be adding Keterex to our semiconductor linecard. Keterex’s expertise in mixed-signal design and embedded systems helps address unique challenges design engineers face.”

“We’re pleased to have Mouser as a world-wide distributor of our products,” said Jim Divine, CEO of Keterex. “Mouser’s reputation as a leading source of new technologies for design engineers enhances our ability to support our customers with exciting new products.”

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

Digi-Key Corporation and Torex Semiconductor Ltd. Announce Global Distribution Agreement

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, and Torex Semiconductor Ltd. today announced the companies have signed a global distribution agreement. Torex is a specialist in analog power supply IC design, development, and manufacturing.

Torex products stocked by Digi-Key are now available for purchase via Digi-Key’s global websites. Additionally, these products will be featured in future print and online catalogs.

“We are delighted to expand our semiconductor portfolio through this partnership with Torex Semiconductor,” said Dave Doherty, Digi-Key vice president of semiconductor product. “Torex’s low power and efficient heat dissipation allow them to offer some ultra-small packaging alternatives that are very attractive to design engineers.”

“Torex is very excited to begin a business partnership with Digi-Key, which is a world-wide leader in business development,” said Koji Shibamiya, Torex managing director. “We are confident we will have a successful, mutually satisfying relationship. Torex will continue to release new Power Management ICs, which will be environmentally friendly, have low power consumption, and be available in small, thin, lightweight packages. We will strive to provide customers with devices which will enable their product development to be as effortless as possible.”

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

Premier Farnell and Altera are proud to join forces on element14 to give an overview of the new FPGA family recently realeased by Altera

Cyclone IV FPGAs bring an unprecedented combination of low power, high functionality, and low cost to high-volume, power- and cost-sensitive applications. Extending the Cyclone family’s leadership in providing the industry’s lowest cost, lowest power FPGAs, the new Cyclone IV family also includes integrated transceivers. In this webinar, Theresa Vu from Altera will give an overview of the family and take questions from interested registrants.

http://www.element-14.com/community/events/2308

Please note to you need to be registered on element14 and be logged in to accept the invitation to this event.

New catalogue launch includes reduced prices across the electronics range

RS Components, the leading distributor of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products, today announced a further round of price reductions on electronics products in its October catalogue launches. Reductions have been made on over 50,000 electronics components to coincide with the publication of the new RS catalogue in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy. Reduction levels are as high as 70%, with savings across a wide portfolio of components and technologies from the world’s leading manufacturers.

This latest price reduction programme is just one of a series of initiatives from RS to provide customers with improved prices for design and production. From introducing production packaging for small batch production customers, through flexible pricing services offered for larger orders, RS has been consistently increasing the level of pricing support offered to customers in the last 12 months.

Commenting on the price reductions, Chris Page, General Manager for Electronics said: “RS is committed to supporting electronics design and production requirements world-wide. Our range offers buyers and design engineers the latest electronic and electro-mechanical components at consistently low prices, giving them great value for money. By combining low prices with market-leading service levels, with all products available direct from stock, we help customers save time and money when they source electronics products from us. In these difficult economic times this is great news for every buyer and engineer and we urge them to go online and find out more.”

Savings can be made on all the major manufacturer ranges including reductions of up to 37% on logic IC’s from Texas Instruments and 34% on Panasonic electrolytic capacitors.

» Contact details for RS Components

VAR skills and specialist customer base will ensure success

UR Group has entered into an agreement with Emcore Corporation to supply and distribute Emcore fibre-optic solutions for the RF over fibre, microwave and satellite photonics markets in the UK and Italy.

Emcore’s technologies enable fibre optic transmission of signals from 200MHz to 40GHz, delivering benefits including security of data, immunity to electro-magnetic interference, significantly lighter and smaller cable plant, simpler link design eliminating amplifiers and frequency-conversion components, and scalability to support increased capacity as user demands evolve. Emcore Corporation has a long history of success in projects involving satellite signal distribution, antenna remoting, fibre optic delay lines and signal distribution for both civil and military radar and specialty RF and terahertz photonics.

“The UR Group has a strong presence in the UK and Italy, both of which are strategically important territories for satellite, aerospace and defence markets,” said Davinder Basuita, EMEA regional director of sales. “We sought a partner with a strong customer base in these markets, proven technical support competency and synergy with existing products and franchises. The UR Group was the obvious choice, and we look forward to a successful relationship delivering sustained growth.”

“The Emcore portfolio will complement our high-quality power and networking products. This is a valuable and exciting opportunity to grow important accounts and to expand our customer base in high-value sectors,” said Joe Matano, Managing Director of UR Group.

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Pact features 8-Bit microcontrollers, new digital touch sensor ICs and covers major product lines, including power management ICs, PLLs, DACs

Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, has signed a new agreement with Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) for the worldwide distribution of FMA’s innovative new low-power, low-pin-count, 8-bit microcontrollers and digital touch-screen sensor ICs.

Fujitsu products stocked by Digi-Key are now available for immediate shipment via Digi-Key’s global websites. Products will also be featured in upcoming print and online catalogs.

The new low pin count, 8-bit MB95200 series of MCUs is designed for home appliances such as vacuums, ovens and other kitchen appliances; electrical tools; consumer healthcare products; and aftermarket car accessories. These MCUs have low power requirements, high reliability and a broad range of features ideal for cost-efficient applications.

The new FMA1127 is the industry’s first digital touch-screen sensor IC, a low-power, fast-processing, easy-to-implement capacitive touch controller developed for mobile phones, PDAs, remote controllers, multimedia players and other mobile devices. Digi-Key is FMA’s exclusive online distribution partner for its MB95200 low-pin-count MCUs and FMA1127 touch sensor controller.

Additional Fujitsu products covered by the distribution agreement include FMA’s phase-locked loops (PLLs), high-performance digital-to-analog converters (DACs), power management ICs (PMICs), spread spectrum clock generators (SSCGs) and a full range of microcontrollers.

Other products include 16-bit MCUs, which combine various FLASH, ROM, and RAM options with integrated peripherals. The agreement also covers 32-bit MCUs for embedded device control, including general-purpose and application-specific versions that incorporate FLASH, ROM, A/D, D/A, CAN, LIN, USB and LCD controllers. Evaluation kits for all Fujitsu microcontrollers and touch-sensor controllers are also available under the terms of this agreement.

“Fujitsu Microelectronics has a strong record of developing innovative, high-quality and easy-to-use MCUs, wireless ICs, power management devices and other products that we are certain will appeal to our customers,” said Dave Doherty, Digi-Key vice president, semiconductor products. “We look forward to making this new portfolio, which includes the new MB95200 series of low-pin-count MCUs and digital touch-screen controllers, available to designers and developers worldwide.”

“Digi-Key is a global leader in electronic component distribution and now delivers products to more than 140 countries,” said Keith Horn, chief operating officer of Fujitsu Microelectronics America. “Designers and engineers rely on Digi-Key for quality and availability and count on the organization as a reliable source of ICs and development tools. We are pleased to work closely with them to provide many of our newest and most innovative devices to customers around the world.”

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

Over 400 products including digital signal processors, signal chain ICs and Power-over-Ethernet devices to aid electronic design engineers

RS Components, the leading international distributor of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products, today announces the launch of a new product range for electronic design engineers working on developing surveillance systems.

Over 400 products have been introduced into the RS portfolio, covering a wide range of technologies that are used when creating a new surveillance system. The core of the offer is the DaVinci™ range of digital signal processors (DSPs) from Texas Instruments, specifically designed for use in video applications. Alongside these sit Techwell CODECs developed for digital video recording (DVR), which are used to simplify design, and Power-over-Ethernet (POE) devices from Akros and Davicom that allow cameras to be added to a system with minimal effort and increased safety.

RS has also introduced a range of signal chain ICs from New Japan Radio. These ICs have been selected for their performance when used in low cost video applications, enabling design engineers to increase reliability and reduce overall application costs in their surveillance systems. Supported with camera housing accessories to make installation as simple as possible, the overall Surveillance range provides design engineers with a time-saving ‘one-stop-shop’ for component selection.

Commenting on the new range, Paul Webster, Head of Product Management for Electronics at RS said, “We are committed to providing electronic design engineers with the best technologies for their new applications, and to help them reduce costs within their design. Our surveillance system product offering addresses the needs of a constantly growing market-place and gives customers choice and flexibility throughout their design.”

The new surveillance range is available online at rswww.com/electronics, complete with all the technical information necessary to enable easy and accurate product selection. The products are held in-stock for next-day delivery direct to customers.

» Contact details for RS Components