Is the DAC7558 still popular?

[Joerg]

When looking for a multi-channel DAC I was a bit surprised that not many
suppliers had stock for the DAC7558. Digikey did while Newark, Arrow and
others didn't. Before I design myself into a corner here, is that octal
12-bitter still popular? If not, is there a better alternative?

For the ADC functions I am leaning towards the ADS7841, a 12-bit quad.

The bus type doesn't matter much. Seems like SPI is more favored these
days and I2C does not provide much of an advantage anyway because they
can't be individually addressed without external HW. So I might as well
use SPI. It's a system with dozens of identical modules.

 

[Winfield Hill]

When looking for a multi-channel DAC I was a bit surprised that not many
suppliers had stock for the DAC7558. Digikey did while Newark, Arrow and
others didn't. Before I design myself into a corner here, is that octal
12-bitter still popular? If not, is there a better alternative?

For the ADC functions I am leaning towards the ADS7841, a 12-bit quad.

The bus type doesn't matter much. Seems like SPI is more favored these
days and I2C does not provide much of an advantage anyway because they
can't be individually addressed without external HW. So I might as well
use SPI. It's a system with dozens of identical modules.

The DAC7558 is a modern low-voltage low-cost quad DAC that should be
around for a while, plus TI hasn't shown themselves to be in the
habit
of prematurely discontinuing their Burr-Brown analog ICs. Mouser has
1956 in stock, although strangely they want a 250-piece minimum
order.
DigiKey has long been a premier TI outlet, which could tend to reduce
the activity of other distributors for the TI stuff. If you should
get into trouble someday, you can purchase directly from TI. Just be
sure to leave yourself 12 to 16 weeks of leadtime to be safe.

I wonder, why does the DAC7558 have an exposed thermal pad, when the
entire IC only draws 1.8mA max? Do they imagine surviving four 50mA
short-circuits at once with a 5-volt supply = 1000mW? Acckk?

 

[Joerg]

The DAC7558 is a modern low-voltage low-cost quad DAC that should be
around for a while, plus TI hasn't shown themselves to be in the
habit
of prematurely discontinuing their Burr-Brown analog ICs. Mouser has
1956 in stock, although strangely they want a 250-piece minimum
order.
DigiKey has long been a premier TI outlet, which could tend to reduce
the activity of other distributors for the TI stuff. If you should
get into trouble someday, you can purchase directly from TI. Just be
sure to leave yourself 12 to 16 weeks of leadtime to be safe.

I wonder, why does the DAC7558 have an exposed thermal pad, when the
entire IC only draws 1.8mA max? Do they imagine surviving four 50mA
short-circuits at once with a 5-volt supply = 1000mW? Acckk?

No idea. The package is one major drawback. I wonder why they didn't
stick it into a wide TSSOP or if the die is still too large at least a
leaded flatpack. Plus a thermal shutdown isn't exactly rocket science
these days. It's an octal BTW.

What do you think about the AD converter ADS7841? I find it's readout
pattern a bit clumsy but it is otherwise nice and compact. I wish they
had some mode where it would keep converting round-robin on a fixed
clock like the auto-scan on some MSP430. Then one would not have to
write a formal conversion request to it on SPI, wait, and finally read.
The interface guy might throw his coffee mug at me when I tell him about
that interface "ceremony".