GlennSmith wrote:
I noticed (at Mouser), that certain ATF150x in PLCC formats are listed as "End of life". It looks currently like it's only the PLCC84 formats - but beware... Not sure what other surprises are in store. Thx Microchip.
Can’t entirely finger Microchip for that—it was expected.
The industry has been on a slow move away from PLCC packages in general, with a number of different products in PLCC being discontinued in the last several years. In the ATF1508’s specific case, I’m actually surprised that the PLCC-84 version persisted as long as it did. The package is huge and eats up a lot of PCB real estate, even if not socketed. In contrast, the TQFP-100 version has a footprint that is about 25 percent of the PLCC-84 package, but with more general purpose I/O pins (64 in PLCC, 80 in TQFP). Of course, good luck with handling a TQFP part...and PCB layout and soldering can get interesting with 20-mil pin pitch!
So far, the ATF1504 continues to be available in PLCC-44, but I suspect that is not long for this world as well.
Another package form that I think is going to slowly fade away is SOIC, which has 50-mil pin pitch. Automatic pick-and-place makes the coarser pitches unnecessary in mass production, so designers are going with the dinky packages and saving PCB space, plus reducing overall product size. The people who decide what stays and what gets EOLed in the electronics world don’t care about the homebrew computer universe—we hobby types don’t buy enough product to matter to the bottom line.
If you have long-range plans to use the PLCC version of the 1508 in your designs, now would be the time to spend some money and buy enough to handle foreseeable needs. Mouser shows plenty of stock for the ATF1508AS-7JX84, at least on the US website.