Intersil: low priced ICs, but how about reputation? (vs TI, Maxim, Linear et al)

[Christe4nM]

Hi guys and gals,

For a project I’m in the middle of selecting driver ICs for RS-232, RS-422 and RS-485. Now usually I’d turn to Maxim Integrated or Texas Instruments first. However a quick "let's see what is available” search at Farnell, Digikey and Mouser revealed that the equivalent Intersil chips are quite a bit cheaper (see below). In some cases up to several euros cheaper than the TI and Maxim ICs.

I’ve studied several datasheets of equivalent parts, but I cannot find what justifies the (big) difference in price. That leaves me with 3 questions:

1) I don’t know Intersil at all, so my first question is what is their reputation? Especially compared to TI, Maxim, Analog Devices and Linear.

2) Secondly, does anybody have an idea of why the Intersil chips are cheaper in general while they seem the same from the datasheet?

All in all, I would like to know if going for Intersil is a good choice when it comes to long term reliability, quality etc.

3) Little off topic but now that I'm asking: are there any traps to watch out for when looking for a RS-232 driver or a RS-422/RS-485 driver?

Thanks a lot in advance for tuning in!

Christean


Price example 1 (source: Mouser, price/100 pc.):
Intersil   ICL3223EIVZ        €0.95
TI          MAX3223EIPWR    €1.33
Maxim   MAX3223EEUP+    €3.39


Price example 2 (source: Digikey, price/100 pc.):
Intersil   ISL3170EIBZ         €0.85
Maxim    MAX3070EESD+   €2.72

[Andreas]

Hello

From Wiki:

Texas Instruments was founded in 1951
The original Intersil was founded in 1967
LT: The company was founded in 1981
Maxim was founded in April 1983

It seems that you are very young.

Intersil is one of the oldest firms (and still there) specialized in analog + CMOS.
ICL7106 is used in almost any 3.5 digit DMM.
They have many ICs for the automotive market (battery management for EVs)


With best regards

Andreas

[rdl]

Not exactly on topic, but I have a 7107 in my parts collection with a 9230 date code. They've been around a while.

[mikeselectricstuff]

the reason they're cheaper is they're not Maxim or TI.....

I use ST (ST485) and Intersil (ISL83somethingorother I think ) for RS485 - From memory ST are typically a bit cheaper, but Intersil do TSSOP  for  when I need something smaller than SO8.

[moffy]

Intersil have been around a long time as Andreas posted. Never heard of an issue with them. They were very innovative early on.

[nctnico]

With RS485 drivers you want to look for ESD immunity and overvoltage handling capability. The cheaper devices often crap out quickly.

[Christe4nM]

Thanks everyone for tuning in. I didn't come across Intersil before so that made me wonder. Strange that I didn't when they're so established. Well, it's reassuring to hear that they are in the same league as the other big players. So thanks! (Could've thought of checking wiki myself though)

It seems that you are very young.

Why thank you, I just turned 30 

With RS485 drivers you want to look for ESD immunity and overvoltage handling capability. The cheaper devices often crap out quickly.

Yep, got that covered

[AndyC_772]

I'd be perfectly happy using Intersil parts in my designs.

I have one board which includes one of their RS232 level shifters, and although it gets installed in some environments that aren't exactly benign (both electrically and environmentally), I've had no problems with it.

[nctnico]

Intersil has been around for a long time but who is in charge now? Do they just clone stuff nowadays?
In the past I go burned with cheap parts from Sipex (100% failure rate within several months).

[coppice]

Buy a million of a similar part from Maxim, TI or Intersil and the price is about the same. These people compete head on with each other, and buyers play them off for generic parts like RS232C or RS485 interface chips, nailing down the tiniest fraction of a cent per device. Buy 100 and the price is any random large number that suits the seller's whim.

[dannyf]

They are more of a niche player - more into metering and then high(er)-performance stuff.

I would trust them.

[free_electron]

hold it. Today;s intersil is not yesterday;s intersil !

intersil is indeed an old company that came up with the chips for Fluke ( later sold under their own name ICL7106 ) and a whole slew of other very interesting devices.
They got borged by Harris , (that also borged Matra).
en 90's Harris spat out their semiconductor devision and it became intersil again. In the early days of wifi almost 90% of the installed wifi base was running on intersil silicon.
Since then they have discontinued and sold of their cmos 4xxx stuff (came from harris) and most of their old legacy products wen , through teledyne , temic (telefunken / teledyne) vishay , and are now in the hands of microchip.

intersil is now primarily focused on power and battery management devices. they almost died a while ago but got a new boss ( i believe from silabs) that managed to turn the thing around.

[mikeselectricstuff]

With RS485 drivers you want to look for ESD immunity and overvoltage handling capability. The cheaper devices often crap out quickly.

I usually put  7V5 zeners,and 100mA polyfuses to protect the zeners, against shorts to 24V