Hi There. I know this is a loaded question and there are so many moving parts, that there is not one size fits all answer. I have been burned with some designs getting the MFG and the MCUs no longer being available - big surprise I know. But, with I am wondering if you guys have any tips/tricks for doing any safety catches, recommending any known better suppliers than others, etc?
I have been using siliconlabs gecko parts and been very happy with there parts over the years. I have used all the other vendors in the past and am fine with using any of them if they are known to have better stability in this current market. Most of my work uses best bang for buck M0/M+ MCUs. I know that microchip has been known to hold pretty good pin compatibility between part variants in the past which might help with supply of particular shortages, but there new software development infrastructure is pretty horrific with their required use of HARMONY and the code/bug generation it produces (maybe it's gotten better). I'm currently limited to looking at digikey/mouser current stock and hoping for the best as to whether it will be available down the road (I know that this is not a good method, but all I've got at the moment). Hoping for any further suggestions that you guys might have to safe-guard against the supply/cost insanity that is happening.
I'm know that there is a limited amount of pin compatible parts within each vendor. What is your recommendation for best pin compatible portfolios of the vendors?
Do you currently recommend one vendor over another based upon their forecasted availability of parts?
Any other recommendations for safe-guarding against future shortages?
Thanks for any insights you might have. PS I found this thread that generally talks about the supply saga, but hoping to hone in specifically on MCUs in this thread.
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/chat/how-is-chipageddon-affecting-you/