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Tekmos Talks
A Newsletter for the Semiconductor Industry

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November  2012 
In This Issue
From the Desk of the President
Tekmos Quality Corner
Tekmos News Highlights
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Applications for Tekmos Products:
  • Automotive
  • Industrial
  • Military
  • Medical
  • Telecommunications 
    
Greetings!

Welcome to "Tekmos Talks"
November. We want to take this opportunity to thank our customers for putting your trust in us.

This month's newsletter will share about Tekmos' Special Qualifications, Tekmos Quality Standards, and News Highlights of company activities and accomplishments for October including the successful launch of our new
website.  We wanted to make the site more user friendly and eye appealing for our customers, so check it out.

High Temperature ASIC and High Temperature Micros 175/250C continue to be the hottest in the world!

 

From the Desk of the President
LReed
Lynn Reed, President
  Special Qualifications  


Tekmos has its own procedures for device qualification.  However, we

occasionally get requests from customers for special qualifications.  The reasons for this are varied, and typically come from a regulatory
requirement, an industry standard, or just from the request of an internal engineer.  We are happy to do it, though there may be additional cost involved.

One request is to characterize the actual limits of the device.  For
example, we sell a microcontroller that is rated at 1.8 volts, and is tested at 1.5 volts to provide a guardband.  But how low will it go?  To find the answer requires us to get on the tester, and lower the voltage until it stops working.  Of course, as we lower the voltage, we also have to adjust the timing and I/O levels, since both of those parameters are related to the supply voltage.  In this case, the answer to the minimum achievable voltage is on the order of 1.05 volts.

Another set of requests involve reliability studies.  This can range from a simple life test at what is for us an unusual supply voltage, up to a full AES-Q100 automotive qualification on a specific part.  Internally, we do a lot of "type" qualifications.  Since we use a gate array architecture in most of our designs, we consider a gate array reliability study to be valid for all devices built on that family of gate arrays.  Some customers prefer to have data specific to their device, so we just repeat the study with their devices.

A third category of tests involve device characterization at elevated temperatures.  This is particularly useful to the military and oil industries.  We have a temperature forcing probe that will go up to 150C which covers most requests.  For higher temperatures, we have to build an extension cable to allow a part to be placed in an oven and still tested. 

Small companies compete by providing levels of service that cannot be provided by larger companies.  Special qualifications are just another part of providing a higher service level.

 

For more information .... 

 
Tekmos Quality Corner
ISO logo

 

"ISO and It's Benefits" by Andy Chaudoir, Director of Quality

 

ISO is a network of the international standards institutes comprised of over 162 nations and a coordinating Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland that oversees the system. The organization was officially formed in 1947 but it is not a governmental organization. But, many of ISO's members are part of their government's structure while many other members are industry and private sector participants.

 

ISO 9001 refers to a standard that focuses on "quality management" within an organization. Ideally, this means that your company continually improves its internal and external processes so that ultimately greater customer satisfaction is achieved. The key to the system is continual improvement and if you're not continually improving then you're not doing it (ISO) right!  

 

While benefits can be reported in different ways by different organizations some of the basic benefits for companies of all shapes, sizes and industries are listed below:

 

-Improved consistency of service and product performance
-Higher customer satisfaction levels
-Improved customer perception
-Improved productivity and efficiency
-Cost reductions
-Improved communications, morale and job satisfaction
-Competitive advantage and increased marketing and sales

-85% of registered firms report external benefits
-Higher perceived quality
-Greater customer demand
-95% report internal benefits
-Greater employee awareness
-Increased operational efficiency
-Reduced scrap expense

-30% reduction in customer claims
-95% improvement in delivery time
-Reduced defects from 3% to 0.5%
-40% reduction in product cycle time
-International acceptance and recognition
-Estimated return on Investment for companies with consistent compliance have been reported +30% to +600%

*These statistics were compiled by D&B, the Dallas Business Journal, manufacturingnews.com and others.

If implemented and followed properly and if benefits like those listed above can be had, it's hard to make a case for not giving it a try. We did and it's working out great!

       

 

to learn more about ISO ...   

 

Tekmos News Highlights
Autumn in Wisconsin
Autumn in Wisconsin
photo by Lynn Reed

Tekmos Travels: 

  • Lynn Reed made a quick trip in October to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to visit with a customer to discuss an application. An additional benefit from the trip was the striking fall leaves in assorted vibrant autumn colors only found in the Midwest.

Tekmos Sales & Product Development:  

  • Tekmos made a design win for a medical ASIC that replaces one no longer being manufactured.
  • Tekmos completed a customer qualification for a low voltage microcontroller used in medical applications and we are now in full production.
  • Tekmos shipped a customer 10,000 TK68HC11DO microcontrollers now in full production.
  • Tekmos delivered prototypes for ROM code 83C751.


  

Manufacturing & Distributor Highlights:

 

 

 


 
Thank you for reading "Tekmos Talks". Contact Bob Abrams, Vice President of Sales & Business Development, call (512) 342-9871 or email Sales for more information on our most recent "tape outs", our high temperature ASIC, or our other quality products.

We appreciate our customers. Tekmos is looking back while innovating for tomorrow.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lynn Reed, President
Tekmos
4120 Commercial Center Drive, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78744
Phone: (512) 342-9871
Fax: (512) 342-9873
Email:  Sales@Tekmos.com