[time-nuts] wtd: WWVB info

[Jim Lux]

On 8/9/15 4:33 PM, Bob Camp wrote:
> Hi
>
> If you never have tried to keep an IC in production, there are some basic things
> that may not be very obvious:
>
> <snip>

There's always Rochester Electronics.. "leaders in the trailing edge" 
(no kidding, that's their slogan)..

They buy old fabs, masks, etc, and keep producing small runs of older 
parts.  For a price.

At some point, multiproject wafers (like MOSIS) might become a hobby 
product.  So far, it's in the "several kilobuck" minimum purchase, and, 
as well, the tools aren't easy to come by. Or, more properly, good 
design tools are expensive, tedious design tools are free.. you CAN 
layout an IC for MOSIS with a ruler and and a quadrille pad.. get your 
copy of Carver and Mead and have at it)

For digital stuff, small boards with FPGAs or microcontrollers on them 
are probably the sweet spot for small runs.

The same is not true for analog.