Many companies offer free samples for projects. Some of them send only for Working professionals.
It is intended to be used for prototyping. "NOT FOR SALE"
http://www.instructables.com/id/Free_Electronic_Samples/step9/Suppliers/
http://www.ladyada.net/library/procure/samples.html
http://www.instructables.com/id/Free_Electronic_Samples/step2/Semiconductors/
http://www.instructables.com/id/List-of-free-sample-programs-for-electronic-compon/step2/The-list/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-electronic-samples/step4/semi-conductors/
http://hacknmod.com/hack/free-electronics-samples-for-your-projects/
http://hacknmod.com/hack/how-to-get-free-stuff-for-your-projects/
some links for semiconductors are
MCU
Atmel - Microcontroller www.atmel.com
STMicroelectronics - Integrated Circuits and semiconductors http://www.st.com/stonline/
Silicon Storage Technology - Flash Storage IC's http://www.sst.com/
Catalyst Semiconductor - Memory and Voltage Reference http://www.catsemi.com/need_a_sample/index.html
Cirrus - Semiconductor, microcontroller, and audio related
PMC Flash - Memory
Ramtron - Memory
Texas Instruments - Integrated Circuits and semiconductors www.ti.com
http://www.fairchildsemi.com/
Let me know if any link is broken.
