Vitaliy wrote:
> Recently we were designing a circuit where the same problem could be
> solved by a 3904 transistor and a resistor, or a diode. I was
> surprised to (re)discover that the diode solution was twice as
> expensive. Makes quite a difference for high-volume designs with lots
> of such tradeoffs.

Mabye you're not looking at the right diodes.  A jellybean 1N4148 in the
LL-34 package is really cheap.  They are about 1.5 cents each in single
reels, and less than a cent each for 25K, and that's from DigiKey
(http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=FDLL4148TR
-ND).


********************************************************************
Embed Inc, Littleton Massachusetts, http://www.embedinc.com/products
(978) 742-9014.  Gold level PIC consultants since 2000.
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist