Mixed-signal Circuit Website Links For
Circuit 		 

Information About

Mixed-signal Circuit
SHOPPER'S DELIGHT
 
Shop For:  
Department
Price Minimum:
Price Maximum:
      



Mixed-signal circuits refers to Integrated Circuits (ICs) which have both Analog Circuit s and Digital Circuit s combined on a single semiconductor die.

Until the mid-1990s, "mixed-signal" usually meant ADC , DAC , Modem , Electronic Power Supply , or Digital Buffer integrated circuits. Digitally controlled Sound Chip s are also mixed-signal circuits. With the advent of cellular technology and network technology this category now includes Cellular Telephone , Software Radio , LAN and WAN Router integrated circuits.

The particular challenges of mixed signal include:

  • CMOS technology is usually optimal for digital performance and scaling while Bipolar Transistor s are usually optimal for analog performance, yet until the last decade it has been difficult to either combine these cost-effectively or to design both analog and digital in a single technology without serious performance compromises. The advent of technologies like high performance CMOS , CMOS SOI and SiGe have removed many of the compromises that previously had to be made.


  • Testing functional operation of mixed-signal ICs remains complex, expensive and often a "one-off" implementation task


  • Systematic design methodologies comparable to digital design methods are far more primitve in the analog and mixed-signal arena. Analog circuit design can not generally be automated to nearly the extent that digital circuit design can. Combining the two technologies multiplies this complication.



COMMERCIAL EXAMPLES