Sorry if it's been mentioned...Fairchild is discontinuing the 1N914.

[Nocaster Cat]

Just got the end of life email today.

[Pollinator95]

*Bangs head against table*
Hopefully there's an even greater supply of them left than the discontinued transistors.

[artifus]

news flash! horse and cart to be superseded by the auto mobile!

Technical obsolescence may occur when a new product or technology supersedes the old, and it becomes preferred to use the new technology in place of the old, even if the old product is still functional. Historical examples of superseding technologies causing obsolescence include higher-quality multimedia DVD over videocassette recorder and the telephone, with audio transmission, over the telegraph's coded electrical signals. On a smaller scale, particular products may become obsolete due to replacement by a newer version of the product.

coming soon: amishdiystompboxes.com - pigeon post(s) only.

[Kesh]

haven't they been selling 1n4148s as 1n914s for years?

[pappasmurfsharem]

haven't they been selling 1n4148s as 1n914s for years?

I remember seeing a post somewhere where somebody measured the differences between the two, and they were pretty darn close to eachother

**edit**

Found it

The plot below shows measured and LTspice predictions for these four diodes. I do not have a SPICE model for the 1N270 diode, so I instead used a similar 1N34A Germanium point-contact diode in the simulation. Also, the 1N4148 and 1N914 SPICE models are essentially identical, so their plots overlay each other and only one is visible.



Analysis

1N914/1N4148—It's easy to dispose of the 1N914/4148 diodes. The agreement between SPICE, measurement and the datasheet is quite good. We can look at a three data points, 0.1, 1 and 10 mA, for example. Except at 10 mA, the measured data matches the datasheet as close as I can read it. The SPICE simulation runs 4-7% lower than the measure values, which is likely close enough for almost all simulations.
  Forward Voltage (millivolts)

Forward - Current Measured - SPICE - Datasheet
0.1mA 500 480 500
1mA 620 585 620
10mA 746 694 730

[puretube]

OMG - what will Fairch*ld kill next?

[Paul Marossy]

OMG - what will Fairch*ld kill next?

The do-it-yourselfer?

[amptramp]

Don't have a cow, man.  Everybody and his dog produced 1N914 diodes and there are still a lot of sources.  The Fairchild spec sheet:

http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/fairchild/1N914.pdf

shows the similarities between the 1N914, 1N4148 and 1N916 devices.  All of these manufacturers still have them:

http://www.datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets_pdf/1/N/9/1/1N914.shtml

The 1N914 was used by everyone.  There will be stock for the foreseeable future.  There was justified concern when some JFET's were announced as being discontinued because they only had a few manufacturers and a few users and it did not make sense to continue production.  This is a different matter.  These diodes will be available from multiple sources for some time.  The real concern is that leaded packages may not continue to be manufactured, but there will be stock for quite some time.  I still have sources for NOS tubes that are 60 years old.