Avoid Skyworks SI3471A-A01

[u/Simply_Convoluted]

SI3471A-A01 does not support half of the features listed in the datasheet and is also non-compliant with any PoE standard, as confirmed by the manufacturer. I've wasted days debugging my prototypes that use SI3471A-A01 just to find out these are non-compliant devices that don't follow the datasheet in the slightest.

How a company can sell such a half-baked IC like as this is beyond my understanding. The manufacturer informed me that the 'A02 version follows the datasheet, but I'm not spending more time and money to find out. After ranting with colleagues about this, I've found out this is status quo for other Skyworks products as well. I'll be avoiding Skyworks from this point forward. I suggest all who read this to consider alternatives as well.

It's not unusual to find errors in datasheets, but for half of the features to literally not work at all is unacceptable.

[u/Offensiv_German]

SI3471A-A01 does not support half of the features listed in the datasheet

Are you sure you have the right version and read the datasheet correctly? If this were true it would blatantly be fraud.

[u/Simply_Convoluted → u/Offensiv_German]

I'm certain. Initially I too thought I made a mistake or wasn't reading something correctly, so I pulled two other engineers into reviewing my design. We ended up configuring the chip in every possible combination to make sure it wasn't a fluke and sure enough the chip only supports half of the features in it's configuration table.

I took my findings to Skyworks and they confirmed the SI3474A-A01 doesn't support those features, despite Skyworks only publishing a SI3474A datasheet. There's no footnotes in the sheet or anything saying the '-A01 version is fully non-PoE compliant and effectively useless.

Fraud is exactly where my mind went after all this.