Components you wish existed

[rob77]

3d printable chips just design you IC and print it in silicon
IBM made that 10nm resolution printer already - so probably in few hundred years we'll be there 

[Rigby]

few hundred years

Less.  It'll happen, but it probably won't be done in silicon.

[Zad]

All chips shall have programmable multiplexers allowing to exchange any pin position. Except power rails. They need to be on adjacent pins.

Putting power rails on adjacent pins is just asking for trouble when probing around looking for faults! I would be happy with current DIP/SOIC/TSSOP type packaging, but with 2 extra pins on each end for JTAG-like configuration signals.

Can I also have a range of nice cheap epoxy packages that look like QFP, but which I can clip a BGA onto, in order to break out the connections? I know there are various BGA breakout boards, but I'm thinking of something not just for the 400 ball+ behemoths, but for 6 ball tiny little things too.

[Psi]

1. A shift register like a 595 that can do 1, 0, and Z on each pin, not just Z on all pins or none.

+1 for this

By the time you're at that level of complexity, shouldn't you just move to an IO expander chip?
I tend to use
http://www.nxp.com/products/interface_and_connectivity/i2c/i2c_general_purpose_i_o/PCA9538PW.html
but SPI versions also exist if you don't like i2c or want more speed, and there are many, many  flavours. They're cheap, too.

The reason i wanted that, maybe him as well, was so i can parallel load a large number of bits into the shift reg and then stream them out serially as L, H, or Z for composite OSD overlay.
The video data is too fast to clock directly with absolute timing using a generic MCU i/o in software, so being able to load a large chunk of data all at once takes the processing load off the MCU. (Obviously it would uses 2 bits per 1 bit out due to tristate operation)
High Z is needed so the composite video signal can pass through unmodified if the pixel is not part of the osd black or white.
An i/o expander wouldn't work for the same reason a generic mcu i/o wouldnt work (too slow and no locked timing).

[David Hess]

If a 595 would otherwise work then use two 595s in parallel and an external tristate driver.  One 595 drives the logic input and the other drives the tristate input.

Can I also have a range of nice cheap epoxy packages that look like QFP, but which I can clip a BGA onto, in order to break out the connections? I know there are various BGA breakout boards, but I'm thinking of something not just for the 400 ball+ behemoths, but for 6 ball tiny little things too.

This is another reason I liked PLCC (plastic leaded chip carrier) packages although they were not quite this small.

[Psi]

yeah, there are ways to do it, it would just be nice if a single package existed.

[Melt-O-Tronic]

I'd like to have high voltage RF capacitors that could be installed in a circuit, then programmed with an exact value, perhaps by shouting at it through a bullhorn.   

Same for toroidal inductors.

[T3sl4co1l]

I'd like to have high voltage RF capacitors that could be installed in a circuit, then programmed with an exact value, perhaps by shouting at it through a bullhorn.   

Same for toroidal inductors.

They had those back in the day, but they were expensive back then, and aren't any better today... 

[free_electron]

• Microcontrollers with embedded bypass caps.

intel pentium Iv  , Xeons and later have had those for a long time.

[T3sl4co1l]

A microwave LED. Figure that one out, physicists!

Gunn diode.

Not the same, physically speaking, but a true "microwave LED" wouldn't operate much above absolute zero, in the same way that a red LED doesn't work over, oh, 200C or so (assuming you had a bare die to demonstrate with).  Or to put it another way, anything with that kind of bandgap is literally a metal at room temperature.

It should be considered an advantage that the Gunn diode is tunable

Tim

[Kjelt]

All microcontrollers having (at least some) non volatile FRAM inside instead of volatile SRAM 

[AndyC_772]

How about an amplifier with its gain programmed by the voltage on a dedicated pin?

I don't mean a PGA with a few discrete settings (eg. x1, x5 or x10, take it or leave it), but continuously variable gain from 0 up to some defined maximum, with either a linear or log response in between.

Along similar lines, a nice, simple filter IC with its cut-off frequency adjusted in the same way would be nice. No need for multiple, ganged external pots that all vary together.

[T3sl4co1l]

How about an amplifier with its gain programmed by the voltage on a dedicated pin?

I don't mean a PGA with a few discrete settings (eg. x1, x5 or x10, take it or leave it), but continuously variable gain from 0 up to some defined maximum, with either a linear or log response in between.

Old school: LM13700 (or even older relatives!), current controlled.  Gain is also proportional to absolute temperature.

Newer: VGAs are common for video applications (oddly enough, for the name, I guess?).  Example:
http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lmh6505.pdf
Gain still varies with temp, possibly by the same figure.

There's also internal-ADC types like the AD603 that do it in steps, but fine enough you may not care (<1dB increment isn't much to fret over).

Along similar lines, a nice, simple filter IC with its cut-off frequency adjusted in the same way would be nice. No need for multiple, ganged external pots that all vary together.

Peruse some old school analog synth schematics.  You'll find piles of OTAs like the LM13700.   Also, JFETs used as variable resistors (usually with op-amps), or CdS photocells paired with LEDs (aka vactrols).  (Or before LEDs, neons or incandescents were used too.)  JFETs are generally hard to use at high linearity and dynamic range, and have to be sorted for matched characteristics.  CdS have weird time constants and poor repeatability.  Such circuits were huge in compensation components (thermistors and diodes and etc.) and had many trimpots to calibrate.

The better alternative for filters is a switched-capacitor type, many of which are available as ICs (I think LT and Maxim are the most important producers of these).  Cutoff is proportional to clock frequency, which can easily be varied continuously with a VCO.

Tim

[Galenbo]

How about an amplifier with its gain programmed by the voltage on a dedicated pin?

This exists, it's called a transistor.

For the purists: fet-transistor, or a normal one in a common-x circuit.

[Precipice]

DDRn with a jtag port, because testpoints really spoil a fast wide bus layout.

i2c 7-segment LEDs, because why not.

More components moulded in that orange epoxy that some tants use, that change colour when they're hot.

BGAs with location pins, like some fine pitch connectors have. (or cradles with locating pins that fit around BGAs, so you can easily line chips up on prototypes, then not use them on production)

Camera ICs with datasheets that aren't full of lies. Or, if you've got to stick 5K of DSP code down the i2c bus to stop the camera sucking, how about mentioning it and making it publicly available? Yes, Aptina, You! OVL are just as bad.

[mikeselectricstuff]

Camera ICs with datasheets that aren't full of lies. Or, if you've got to stick 5K of DSP code down the i2c bus to stop the camera sucking, how about mentioning it and making it publicly available? Yes, Aptina, You! OVL are just as bad.

..or at the very, very least, have the factory default register values produce a vaguely useable output from startup

[Psi]

BGAs with location pins

heh, that would be cool


How about micro laser-etching the actual full part number on all surface mount components.
Now that would be expensive but so useful to hobbiests

[tszaboo]

Single chip analog PID controller with resistor/I2C programmable parameters.
And "those" components in standard footprints. Every time I use a new inductor I have to draw a different footprint. How about using the same for once? Not to mention PCB mounted batteries or any stupid mechanical parts. How about making a battery in DO-214 package?

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

Electrolytics that don't dry up. Or a syringe to wet them again when they do.

[GeorgeOfTheJungle]

And a decent gas soldering iron.

[mariush]

I was searching for a thermal wire stripper today (you know, strip insulation by placing wire between two nichrome blades) ... was surprised there's no chinese tools that would do this on eBay on a brief search, was only able to find $100-$150 American strippers. 

Digikey has something cheaper but only rated for PVC so I assume it's lower temperature.

Maybe I got the search terms wrong..

[Rigby]

Electrolytics that don't dry up. Or a syringe to wet them again when they do.

Seems like they could be refillable.

[Stonent]

Electrolytics that don't dry up. Or a syringe to wet them again when they do.

Seems like they could be refillable.

There could be a market for DIY refill kits. 

[nuno]

I have missed many times having current limited microcontroller pins, essentially for LEDs, but not only. Something like 1mA resolution up to 32mA. On all (GPIO) micro pins.

[rob77]

Electrolytics that don't dry up. Or a syringe to wet them again when they do.

Seems like they could be refillable.

There could be a market for DIY refill kits. 

just punch a hole with a needle and inject some fresh electrolyte, then simply seal with a drop of epoxy