This is a bit of a geeky post, an electronics engineers tribute. Sort of the things that Americans say on thanksgiving or whatever that it is. In the recent past, i had been doing a project involving something called RFID. Lots of high frequency stuff and circuitry and boards and wires and solder fumes(you can realistically get high on these,speaking from experience). And when it was completely done, it was immensely rewarding. But i am not trying to portray a successful spiritual orgasm or anything of that sort. Its actually a tribute to 2 IC's, 2 chips that made the project possible. 2 wonders that are right in every aspect and absolutely dependable.
The first is the OPA 2354. Its a high speed amplifier, with a bandwith of 250MhZ and fantastic noise immunity, monumentally high input resistance (i loved this bit) and ruggedness (saved a lot of rework as i do blow IC's up with too much volts and amperes). Amazingly reliable and outstanding performance, the project would have never come together and held up without this.
The second, is nothing short of a revolution in the world of switching and control circuitry. This chip is an analogue switch, multiplexer and demultiplexer rolled into one. And it operates at a standard 5 volts. Actually its 2 separate IC's, brothers. The 1p1G3157 which has one example of the above concoction and TS3A24157 which has 2 of the former in the same chip. Amazing feat of circuit design these chips.
And last but not the least and above everything, a loud salute to the makers of these wonderful contraptions, Texas Instruments. (Well, actually the OPA was made by Burr Brown, but it was bought dime and penny by Texas Instruments). Not only for making these devices but also for providing free samples of these. Yeah, thats true. Not a dime spent on these. I ordered it using my Google mail account from
www.ti.com and they were kind enough to ship it to me within 4 days. Completely free of any monetary transaction on my part. I just picked these up and used them. Rather abused them and cursed TI when they did not work or blew up or went up in smoke or something. But more than all those profanities, i mean this small little thanks. I really do.
