Hummm, at $1.46/100 for the MCP16321 it is pretty low-cost for my needs.=20
  In comparison to similar from TI & Linear it feels pretty low-cost.=20
(Maxim is blacklisted and never considered for new designs.)  Other=20
smaller analog IC companies headquartered overseas have interesting=20
cheap parts but availability is unknown and not worth the risk.

Fortunately this and most of my designs are in the runs of low hundreds=20
2X a year kind of category.  So $1.46 is nicer than $3-something, and=20
microchip availability in general is pretty good.

However 70c would be even nicer.  :)

J

RussellMc wrote:
>> Nice to see mchip is getting into low-cost, well-documented,
>> easily-available analog type stuff.  That combination is hard to find.
>
> Choose any 2.
> I consider that cost level excessive.
> If somebody would redo an MC34063 with up to 1 MHz operation and a
> decent internal MOSFET in place of the non saturating darlington and
> with otherwise similar functionality and price it should conquer the
> world.  Start on 0.9V, run on 2V would be a bonus :-). Add optional
> current trip sensing (switch source current sense) and a much lower
> reference voltage would be good.
>
> How hard can it be?
> Hard, apparently.
>
> An MC34063 can drive almost any topology (boost, buck, boost-buck,
> Cuk, SEPIC, flyback, ...) , has a usefully capable internal switch ,
> good voltage rating, and high side current sense. It lacks the various
> soft starts and lockouts and more of many modern IC but you can do
> most things with it with not too much effort at a fraction of the cost
> of much more modern ICs. 100 kHz max is annoying. Darlington switch
> makes efficincy poor at lower voltages. Update it and it would be
> suitable for many more tasks than it is already.
>
>
>
>       Russell McMahon
>
--=20
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