these 4 prototype boards cost us £1200, with a lead time of 2 weeks.....we may have to throw them away, but I would rather not, I cant see how we can be sure of not falling into this trap again and again....how are we to know when any component is going to go nil-stocked?
None of these "legless" style footprints fit each others footprint, so when one goes nil-stock, we are dead.
As discussed, DPAK would be nice, but we don't have the room.
The datasheets of these components should tell whether or not there is a chance of nil-stocking.
I suppose we can contact findchips or octoparts, but as discussed here, we may end up with fake dudds, how can those websites be sure of every single component that they trade in?