The hot 100 products of 2004

The best 100 products of 2004 encompass a range of architectures and technologies and a plethora of categories—from analog ICs to multimedia to test-and-measurement tools.

By Staff -- EDN, December 17, 2004

The best 100 products of 2004 encompass a range of architectures and technologies and a plethora of categories—from analog ICs to multimedia to test-and-measurement tools. All are innovative, but, of the thousands that manufacturers announce each year and the hundreds that EDN reports on, only about 100 hot products make our readers really sit up and take notice. Here are the picks from this year's crop. Click on the product name to read the full text of the articles that cover these products' dazzling features.

ANALOG ICs

Analog Devices
AD1954 audio DAC
www.analog.com D2Audio
XR125 seven-channel module
www.d2audio.com International Rectifier
IR2520D CFL ballast power controller
www.irf.com Power Integrations
LNK306P
switching power converter
www.powerint.com Texas Instruments
VCA8613
eight-channel VGA
www.ti.com Wolfson Microelectronics
WM8740 audio DAC
www.wolfsonmicro.com

COMMUNICATIONS

Atheros Communications
AR5005 Wi-Fi chip sets
www.atheros.com Fulcrum Microsystems
FM1010 six-port SPI-4,2 switch chip
www.fulcrummicro.com Motia
Javelin smart-antenna IC
www.motia.com NetLogic Microsystems
NSE5512GLQ network search engine
www.netlogicmicro.com Parama Networks
PNI8040 add-drop multiplexer
www.paramanet.com PMC-Sierra
MSP2015, 2020, 4000, and 5000 VoIP gateway chips
www.pmc-sierra.com Texas Instruments
TCS3500 EDGE handset chip set
www.ti.com Zarlink
TDM-over-IP packet processor
www.zarlink.com

COMPONENTS

AVX/Kyocera
KNA21series EMI filter in chip form
www.avxcorp.com Coto Technology
B41 BGA quad reed relay
www.cotorelay.com GrafTech International
Spreadershield anisotropic heat spreader
www.graftech.com Hermetic Switch
HSR-003 reed relay
www.hermeticswitch.com LEDtronics
Concave-lens LED family
www.ledtronics.com Murata Electronics North America
NFM18PS low-ESL capacitor
www.murata.com NVE Corp
IL6xx family GMR digital couplers
www.nve.com Vishay Intertechnology
SSA23L series Schottky rectifiers
www.vishay.com

COMPUTERS, BOARDS, AND BUSES

Digi International
Digi Connect Wi-ME/EM802.11b modules
www.digi.com Inova Computers
ICP-PM single-board computer
www.inova-computers.com Intel
NetStructure MPCBL0001 single-board computer
www.intel.com Gumstix
Gumstix single-board computer
www.gumstix.com General Micro Systems
P60x single-board computer
www.gms4sbc.com Micro/sys
SBC4495single-board computer
www.embeddedsys.com Parvus
MPEG104 PC/104 encoder
www.parvus.com Radiotronix
Wi.232 transceiver/controller
www.radiotronix.com

DIGITAL AND PROGRAMMABLE ICs

Altera
Max II high-density CPLDs
www.altera.com Altera
Stratix II FPGA family
www.altera.com Lattice
EC and ECP conventional and DSP-enhanced FPGA families
www.latticesemi.com Leopard Logic
Gladiator CLDs standard-cell-ASICs with embedded FPGA cores
www.leopardlogic.com Renesas
4-Gbit AG (assist gate)-AND flash memory for data/file-storage applications
www.renesas.com Xilinx
Virtex-4 FX, LX and SX next-generation high-end FPGAs
www.xilinx.com

DISCRETE SEMICONDUCTORS

Advanced Linear Devices
ALD1121E and ALD1123E matched MOSFETs
www.aldinc.com

Vishay Intertechnology
SSA23L through SSC54 Schottky-rectifier family
www.vishay.com

EDA

Cadence
Allegro Package Designer for pc-board package and interconnect design
www.cadence.com Coventor
CoventorWare MEMS-design tool
www.coventor.com Denali Software
PureSuite interface-verification suite for PCI Express compliance
www.denali.com Flomerics
Flo/PCB electrical-and mechanical-collaboration software
www.flomerics.com Jasper Design Automation
JasperGold formal-verification tool
www.jasper-da.com Mentor
Catapult C algorithm-synthesis tool
www.mentor.com Novas
Reusner Design Knowledge Publisher design-reuse tool
www.novas.com PowerEscape
PowerEscape Analyzer+Cache software algorithm analyzer tools
www.powerescape.com

EMBEDDED TOOLS

EEMBC
Digital-entertainment security benchmarks
www.eembc.org Enea Embedded Technology
Orchestra Development Suite Linux/OSE development platform
www.ose.com Fluent
IcePak thermal-analysis software
www.fluent.com Green Hills Software
CAN Development Kit application-development tool
www.ghs.com National Instruments
CompactRIO custom embedded hardware
www.ni.com Open Source
TinyOS embedded-sensor OS
www.tinyos.net Swell Software
Portable Embedded GUI software
www.swellsoftware.com TimeSys
TimeStorm IDE development and testing environment
www.timesys.com

MULTIMEDIA

Analog Devices
ADSP-21365 and ADSP-21364 audio DSPs
www.analog.com Cirrus Logic
CS49500, CS49510, and CS49520 audio DSPs
www.cirrus.com LSI Logic
DMN-8602 and DMN-8652 DVD-recorder chips
www.lsilogic.com National Semiconductor
LM2501and LM2502 Mobile Pixel Link transmitter/receivers
www.national.com Nvidia
GoForce 3D 4500 graphics and imaging processor
www.nvidia.com Silicon Image
SiI 9030 HDMI transmitter and SiI 9021 and SiI 9031 receivers
www.siimage.com Texas Instruments
TMS320DM320 imaging processor
www.ti.com ViXS
XCode II multimedia processors
www.vixs.com

NETWORK PROCESSORS

AMCC
Mission Access multiservice network processor
www.amcc.com Cavium Networks
Octeon NSP network-services processors
www.cavium.com

Mindspeed Technologies
TSP3 family programmable traffic-management processors
www.mindspeed.com

PERIPHERALS

ATI Technologies
X800 graphics-processor family
www.ati.com

ATI Technologies
Radeon Xpress 200 core-logic chip-set series
www.ati.com

Broadcom
BCM4780 NASoC processor chip
www.broadcom.com

Creative Labs 3DLabs subsidiary
Realizm 100, 200, and 800 graphics boards
www.creativelabs.com

Nvidia
GeForce 6800 graphics-processor family
www.nvidia.com

Seagate Technology
Savvio 2.5-in. hard-disk drives
www.seagate.com

POWER

Artesyn Technologies
VRM10 series nonisolated point-of-load converter
www.artesyn.com

E-T-A Circuit Breakers
ESS60-T electronic, controllable circuit breaker
www.e-t-a.com

Evans Capacitor
Button Cell Hybrid super-capacitor in button cell
www.evanscap.com

Power Integrations
LinkSwitch-TN family switcher-core IC
www.powerint.com

Vicor Corp
VIC-in-a-Brick IBC seriesbus-converter modules
www.vicr.com

V-Infinity LLC
VPHV12 series high-voltage supplies
www.v-infinity.com

PROCESSORS

Atmel
AT572D740 Diopsis dual-core DSP/RISC processor
www.atmel.com

Dallas Semiconductor
MAXQ2000 low-power, low-noise 16-bit processor
www.maxim-ic.com

Freescale
MSC812x Family quad-core DSP
www.freescale.com

Royal Philips Electronics
LPC2130 32-bit ARM7 microcontroller
www.semiconductors.philips.com

Stretch
S5000 Family of software-configurable processors
www.stretchinc.com

Tensilica
Xtensa LX flexible-length instruction-extension processor architecture
www.tensilica.com

Texas Instruments
C6414/15/16 90-nm, 1-GHz DSPs
www.ti.com

RF LINKS

Microtune
MT212 150- to 1000-MHz tuner
www.microtune.com

OKW Electronics
110 Series KEELOQ AM keyfob encoders
www.okwelectronics.com Peregrine Semiconductor
PE4261 and PE4263 RF switch
www.peregrine-semi.com Vishay Intertechnology
TSDF12830YS VHF/UHF amplifier and switch
www.vishay.com Zarlink Semiconductor
ZL10038 set-top-box/DTV tuner
www.zarlink.com

SOFTWARE

Agilent Technologies
VEE Pro 7.0 software for T&M application development
www.agilent.com

Ansoft
ePhysics software for thermal, stress analysis
www.ansoft.com The MathWorks
Matlab 7; Simulink 6 math, simulation tools
www.mathworks.com The MathWorks
Video and Image Processing Blockset C-code model development
www.mathworks.com National Instruments
SignalExpress virtual-instrumentation software
www.ni.com

TEST AND MEASUREMENT

Agilent
DSO80000 series 10- to 13-GHz-bandwidth, real-time-sampling DSOs
www.agilent.com

Agilent
B4655A FPGA dynamic-probe logic-analysis application
www.agilent.com LeCroy Corp
WaveSurfer series small-footprint, large-screen DSOs
www.lecroy.com Strategic Test
UF7221 32-channel, 40-MHz pulse-pattern generator
www.strategic-test.com Tektronix
TDS8200 series 70-GHz-bandwidth sequential-equivalent-time-sampling DSOs
www.tek.com VeriWave
WaveTest IEEE 802.11 protocol-test system
www.veriwave.com