Author Topic: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?  (Read 10912 times)

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Offline shapirus

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #50 on: December 19, 2023, 08:39:42 am »
On the upside, NXP is a prominent competitor to TI in the logic space, and I haven't noticed gross defects in their documentation.  Sounds worthy of awarding some design wins eh? :)
Yeah I actually like their datasheets. The colors are more pleasant too :).
 

Offline magic

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #51 on: December 19, 2023, 09:25:27 am »
Here's a fresh example, the one I'm reading right now.

TI's CD74HCT132: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cd74hct132.pdf

It's either that I don't know how to read and understand datasheets, or it has not been QA'ed and is a result of some quick copy-pasting.

That's what I wrote about TI being nuts about keeping datasheets up to their "standards". They clearly have certain internal rules about various sections and tables which must be included in all datasheets so that almost everything you might want to know about the part can be found there. Those things are highly repetitive within product families or even whole types of products (e.g. almost every CMOS opamp has the same pattern of ESD diodes) so certain texts or diagrams are written once and reproduced in countless datasheets.

...with a varying proofreading effort, as you found ;)


For example, if you ever wondered why everybody specifies NE5534/5532 as good for ±3V but TI's recommendation is ±15V, the answer is that TI also used to advertise ±3V on the front page, but in the '90s somebody added a copy-pasted "recommended operating conditions" table with the generic ±15V, and then somebody noticed the conflict and removed the front page spec. I think the same happened to some other parts too, but I don't remember specific examples now.

BTW, input and output ranges may get uncomfortably restricted at low supply, and maybe other performance characteristics not as good as at 30V. But we are talking parts which used to be advertised (also by TI) as at least "usable" at low voltage...
« Last Edit: December 19, 2023, 09:33:16 am by magic »
 

Offline tooki

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #52 on: December 19, 2023, 05:33:30 pm »
What sucks is when there is no real feedback channel from customers that would allow fixing documentation when it's incorrect.
TI does: the footer of every datasheet PDF has a “submit document feedback” link, and TI has responded promptly when I’ve used it. There’s a link on the product web pages, too, which includes the parametric data.

Analog Devices is the same, the link in the footer is simply titled “document feedback”.

Infineon lists a feedback email address on the last page of its datasheets.


Of the four manufacturers I looked at, only ST didn’t have any obvious feedback method.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2023, 05:38:45 pm by tooki »
 

Offline Vincent

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #53 on: December 20, 2023, 01:47:17 am »
I never had major problems finding the information I'm looking for in datasheets, either because:

A) I happen to be wonderfully skilled in data retrieval in documentation, or

B) I'm still to such a noob skill level in electronics that I actually ever hit the wall.

I would bet it's most certainly B).

Application notes however are a different story. Let's say that circuit descriptions aren't always the most insightful.  :palm:
 

Online Kleinstein

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #54 on: December 20, 2023, 10:39:19 am »
The example ciruits given can be good but some are also odd, using the chip for something strange, where much better/cheaper solutions exist. Some of those are at least funny, but a beginner may actually use them.
Separate appl. notes are usually better in that respect and some (especially for more complicated chips) can be seen as an extension of a data sheet.

For finding the data wanted it helps that many chips are from only a few companies and use a similar format. It can still sometimes be a long time to find out that a value is not there or only partial in a graph. An anoying example in older datasheets for OP-amps is that instead of the supply current the power is given - one may miss that on the first scan for a mA / µA value.
 

Offline Someone

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #55 on: December 20, 2023, 10:46:22 am »
An anoying example in older datasheets for OP-amps is that instead of the supply current the power is given - one may miss that on the first scan for a mA / µA value.
mA per amplifier, another trap when copying over to design documentation.
 

Offline coppice

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #56 on: December 20, 2023, 02:31:24 pm »
What sucks is when there is no real feedback channel from customers that would allow fixing documentation when it's incorrect.
Every vendor has an effective feedback path. Inform one of their sales people that an error in a datasheet is affecting your decision to place a large order, and you'll be amazed how quickly it gets fixed. :)
 

Online SiliconWizard

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Re: Do semiconductor datasheets suck?
« Reply #57 on: December 21, 2023, 12:38:49 am »
What sucks is when there is no real feedback channel from customers that would allow fixing documentation when it's incorrect.
TI does: the footer of every datasheet PDF has a “submit document feedback” link, and TI has responded promptly when I’ve used it. There’s a link on the product web pages, too, which includes the parametric data.
Analog Devices is the same, the link in the footer is simply titled “document feedback”.
Infineon lists a feedback email address on the last page of its datasheets.

Yes, they have email addresses. I like that.
 


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