Diodes zetex / Diodes inc

[slybunda]

not a capacitor question but is this company ok to buy from seeing as they are made in china but seem to be sold by all the major electronics retailers?

[stj]

they make good stuff.
Zetex invented the E-Line transistor (ZTX series) mini transistors that have really good specs

[PeteS in CA]

Diodes Inc. has been around for quite a while. They're good.

[slybunda]

Thanks will add this to my good list and get some diodes ordered.

[redwire]

Purchasing changed from On-Semi to Diodes Inc. zeners in production and they were not great. The knee was mushy in comparison, so I blacklisted Diodes Inc and avoid the parts. They are low priced for a reason.
Zetex makes some really good transistors and they seem OK even after being bought out by Diodes Inc.

[slybunda]

ahh, was looking to get some of these https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/schot...ifiers/7514871 Schottky Diodes, hope they are not crappy or something.

[stj]

On-Semi are also good,
i think they used to be called Motorola
so much fucking name changing in this industry that it's hard to keep track.
it's like if you build up a sucessfull rep and brand-name you have to wreck it and start again or something!

HP is a good example - best test gear in the world IMO.
changed it's name to Agilent.
then for some reason changed it again - now known as KeySight
??

[PeteS in CA]

Back when I was in Component Engineering at Curtis Instruments (the motor controller division in Livermore) the sloppy-kneed zener problem was noticed, and dug into. It turned out that many brands' zeners actually came from a single company (in China, IIRC). I do not recall whether a better source was found or designs were tweeked to compensate for the sloppiness (~15 years and two employers ago). Maybe this background single-sourcing has changed in the past 15 years or so, but the diffusion process for rectifiers and zeners is older technology compared to the lithography process for ICs and power MOSFETs, and profit margins are slim.

ETA: I believe the company is Tak Cheong, http://www.takcheong.com/en/channels/Introduction.html . It was founded in Hong Kong some 20 years before Hong Kong was transferred back to Chinese governance.

[stj]

i'v noticed zeners are graded into % lots.
2%, 5% or others
but they dont instant-trigger anyway - they have a curve

[andrewsawesomr]

Just a note -- the reason many of these companies were "renamed" are spin-offs and mergers. Here are some of the examples:

Motorola Semiconductor - Spun off into ON Semiconductor

Fairchild Semiconductor - Merged into ON Semiconductor

National Semiconductor - Merged into Texas Instruments

HP - Test Measurement Division spun off into Agilent - Agilent Test Measurement division spun off into Keysight

"On September 19, 2013, Agilent announced its decision to separate into two publicly traded companies: Agilent, a life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets company, and an electronic measurement company.^[23] The life sciences company retained the Agilent name and the electronic measurement company was called Keysight Technologies"
Agilent Technologies - Wikipedia

[slybunda]

This the same Keysight that youtubers give away oscilloscopes from?

[andrewsawesomr]

This the same Keysight that youtubers give away oscilloscopes from?

Yes

[stj]

i thought only Mehdi (ElectroBoom) did that?
be very carefull with keysight contests if your not in the u.s.
i have heard of people winning and then getting billed for iimport taxes by customs!

[slybunda]

Hmm id have thought customs would still be far cheaper than buying the device itself?

[stj]

if your poor and maybe in a place like India or South america and you win a $5000 scope your fucked - the tax will be several years income or customs will just steal it.
even in Europe thats gonna be €1000-1500 in taxes,
most people dont have that spare.

[slybunda]

holy moly didnt think of it like that man thats bad.