PHY IC Alternative

Hardware
1

We were trying to get our next run of imp005 boards populated and have run into what feels like a major issue. We can’t find any of the recommended PHY ICs at any of the normal distributors.

Are there any base specs we could use to look for an alternate? Using digikey’s filters I tried narrowing down some alternate options and came up with nothing.

We are fairly low volume on this product so 250-500pcs should get us completely out of the woods.

The part number we used on previous builds was straight from the datasheet. LAN8720A-CP

2

Technically any RMII PHY should work; the MDIO and RMII interfaces are standardized. The PHY needs to supply the clock, though.

Part availability is problematic for almost every bit of silicon at this point, though. Digikey don’t seem to have many (any?) RMII PHYs in stock. However, LCSC (who are sort-of the Chinese digikey) do list many LAN8720’s in stock: Microchip Tech|Microchip Tech LAN8720AI-CP-TR|Ethernet ICs|LCSC

…buy now, there may not be more chips for a year…

3

Thanks for the response Hugo. I missed those ones in my search. We will stock up. Are they any expected shortages coming for any of the Electric Imp hardware products? I am most interested in the imp005.

4

Due to the global semi meltdown, leadtimes on all parts - including all imp types - are significantly longer than usual.

imp005 appears to be less affected than other imp modules as ST leadtimes are longer than Cypress ones at this point… but that could change)

5

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