Design tips from Richtek when sourcing/selecting parts for power supply. Link here
The COVID pandemic has made it clear that the semiconductor supply chain is very sensitive to sudden changes in supply and demand, resulting in worldwide shortage of semiconductors in all fields, from consumer to automotive applications. Many company production lines had to reduce or even completely suspend their production due to lack of semiconductor components. As a result, these companies have been urgently trying to find alternatives for components in their designs. However, it is not always that simple to find alternatives for power management components: PCB layout may need to be changed, and several tests may have to be done before a new component can be introduced, while time pressure is huge due to possible production line stop. It can be a great benefit if multiple component sources are considered during the start of the design: at that time, pin compatible (P2P) parts can be selected, common component PCB footprints can be considered, and validation tests can be executed with multiple sources instead of a single source.