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Tekmos Talks
A Newsletter for the Semiconductor Industry

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March  2013
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!
Tekmos alternative packaging

Welcome to Tekmos Talks March.

This month's newsletter will continue to elaborate on Tekmos' New Year Resolutions, talk about Tekmos' Giant white board, and  "news highlights" of company activities including the launch of new Tekmos products.

Tekmos High Temperature ASIC and High Temperature Micros 175/250C are still the hottest in the world!

 

From the Desk of the President
LReed
Lynn Reed, President

Alternative Packages  

 

One of the biggest challenges we face in the replacement of obsolete parts is replacing the obsolete packages.  We can re-create designs and implement them in new technologies, but we don't have the same flexibility for the packages.  And while newer packages are easily available, there may be engineering or regulatory reasons why we cannot change the existing PC board to accommodate a newer package.

 

If a given package is not offered by one of our main assembly vendors, we first search to see if anyone else in the world offers it.  The initial step is to look at their web sites and see what they offer.  This is harder than it seems.  The web sites may not be in English, and they may not be updated.  We have frequently inquired, only to find that a specific package is no longer offered.  The contact information is also challenging.  And a given vendor may not be interested in what is for them a very small piece of business.

 

The cost is frequently higher from smaller vendors.  Many have optimized their business around military work, and that can result in an increase of $20 per part to cover the packaging alone.

 

Some packages are just not obtainable.  In those cases, we have to build an adapter card.  We have used adapter cards for 56-pin SDIPs, 84-pin PGAs, and 84- and 132-pin BQFPs.   

 

 Read more...  

Tekmos Quality Corner
Tekmos Giant White Board
Jon Gehm & Tekmos' Giant White Board
 
Tekmos' Giant White Board

 

They say that everything is bigger in Texas. Well, that isn't just true for cattle ranches, six shooters and Big Tex at the Texas State Fair. The saying also includes the ideas, dreams and goals that guide our lives, and even direct our companies. In fact, in most offices there is actually a place where ideas and goals meet reality. It is usually a small thing, placed on a wall, or near a desk. Its importance is often, and sometimes even hastily, replaced by technology or a software generated spreadsheet. That often neglected area where ideas can find a home is the simple white board.  

 

At Tekmos, we didn't want just any white board. Our ideas are just too big for that. We need a white board that can handle the Texas size job our customers expect and our designs achieve. We needed a giant, Texas size white board to even start to handle the job. I am proud to say that our management goals and customer needs now have a place to call home. A place where they can come together, take root, and be nurtured and grow from birth of idea to designed creation. Where they are brought to life in the manufacturing flow, and carefully watched to their final arrival at our customers waiting receiving dock. We now have that white board. If it isn't the biggest in Texas, it should be.  It certainly contains the biggest ideas and solutions to be found, across this state or any other, and maybe even across the whole world. Come see it sometime.

To learn more about Tekmos...
 

From the Desk of Jon Gehm, Director of Operations 

 

 

Tekmos News Highlights
alternative Tekmos packaging
Tekmos Sales News:

Tekmos has shipped over 15,000 microcontrollers for a major medical products company in February.

 

Tekmos Product Development:

 

Tekmos has introduced  new products.  These are user programmable versions of previous parts.  They are being sampled now, and we have production quantities available in March.

 

TK68HC705B16

TK68HC705B32

TK68HC711D3

 

 

 

 

 

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