ANALOG IC DESIGN

INTRODUCTION

What is Analog IC Design?

Analog IC design is the successful
implementation of analog circuits and
systems using integrated circuit
technology.
Circuits process signals continuous in
time and continuous in amplitude

 The (electronic) world is going Digital,

why Analog?

NEED
While many applications have replaced much analog
circuitry with their digital counterparts, the need for
analog circuit design is actually growing.
REASON------ Consumer-focused electronics have become the
driving force of industry,
But , consumer electronics has become all-digital,
networked, sophisticated, and almost independent of
time, place, physical embodiment, and content. Users
expect their tailored audio and video content when,
where, and how they want it, to their own schedule and
convenience.

 Ans.---As the digital demands have increased, they have

increased the demands on analog as well, which is good
for R&D and production investment. Ironically, new
requirements for features in digital cell phones are
dictating the needs for new analog functions.
And in turn, the increased analog capability has enabled
more the desired digital functionality and performance,
as well.
So we have one of the few cases where a positive
feedback loop is for good
Example---Electronic application in demand
CELL PHONE

Basic Digital Handset

The key components of a basic handset are the radio, the power
management, and the analog and digital baseband processing.

Analog in digital handset.

Interesting fact: There's more analog
in a digital handset
than in an analog model

 In a digital handset,
--convert the voice signal to a digital stream (with an
"analog" ADC).
---But before conversion, need to filter it (using an
analog filter).
--What comes out to your ear must be converted from
digital to analog.(DAC)
--And there's an analog filter there to clean up that
signal.
Getting the signal up onto the RF carrier,
---power amplifier (PA),
--analog circuitry is needed to control the PA to ramp it
up and down, and to control the power,

 Putting the signal up on the air waves generally

requires turning bits into a modulated carrier,
which requires DACs and some filters (more
analog parts).
On the receive side, what comes down from the
RF carrier is a modulated signal that needs
ADCs to decompose the signal into quadrature
components.

 The battery and power management

CIRCUIT that's needed to handle all the
new digital "stuff that's being packed into
the newer models, like things to manage a
color display, and the backlighting for it,
high-performance audio, and so on.

Modern Handset

 Higher resolution camera---analog image processing

required to interface a multi-megapixel camera sensor to the digital

processor,

Music-player phones with iPod-like capabilities---high-quality playback digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and
headphone driver amplifiers for audio playback.

TV reception is a new feature emerging in cell

phones----keeping the display brightly lit to watch a video clip

without consuming too much power requires power management.

power-management and battery-monitoring/charging functions
needed to maximize battery life while powering all the new features.

An emerging TV-related feature is the ability to play back recorded

still photos and short video clips from the phone to a TV set. This
requires creating an analog video signal from the digitally-stored
photo or video clip.
Games---improved graphics capability, user interfaces, and even
sound effects.

 Other reasons---

Also, as the clock speed of digital circuitry

approaches 1 GHz, analog effects in these
digital circuits are playing an important
role in the circuit behavior.

Which Analog circuits?

If not for the multitude of analog and mixed-signal
components that vendors have developed in the past
decades, the digital media river would slow to a trickle. It
takes countless A/D and D/A convertersaudio, video,
RFto make it possible.
It also takes basic small-signal amplifiers, audio through
RF power amplifiers,
disk-drive read/write circuitry,
motor controls, line drivers and receivers,
power-supply components,
touch-screen interfaces, display drivers,
thermal sensors and fan controls,
and much more, to make the digital world possible.

Purpose
The purpose of this course is to help
students develop analog circuit designs by
presenting a concise treatment of the wide
array of knowledge required by an analog
IC designer.

Objectives
The objective of this course is to teach
analog integrated circuit design using
todays technologies and in particular,
CMOS technology.

Approach
Develop a firm background on technology and
modeling
Present analog integrated circuits in a
hierarchical, bottom-up manner
Emphasize understanding and concept over
analytical methods (simple models)
Illustrate the correct usage of the simulator in
design
Develop design procedures that permit the
novice to design complex analog circuits
(these procedures will be modified with
experience)

 Presenting the fundamentals required to

build high-performance analog systems,
-----will help to take the mystery out of
analog design.
In all cases , emphasis on the most
important and fundamental principles as
they pertain to state-of-the-art analog
design.

Background
Basic knowledge about single stage
amplifiers
Ac. Dc. Analysis techniques
Frequency response
Negative feedback

Introduction

Analog Integrated Circuit Design

Technology Impact on Analog IC Design
Analog Signal Processing functions
Notation, Symbology and Terminology
Summary

Unique Features of Analog IC

Design
Geometry is an important part of the design
Electrical Design Physical Design Test
Design
Usually implemented in a mixed analog-digital
circuit
Analog is 20% and digital 80% of the chip area
Analog requires 80% of the design time
Analog is designed at the circuit level
Passes for success: 2-3 for analog, 1 for digital

The Analog IC Design Flow

Analog IC Design - Continued

Electrical Aspects-Topology, W/L values, and
dc currents

Analog IC Design - Continued

Physical Aspects-(Layout)
-Implementation of the physical design including:
- Transistors and passive components
- Connections between the above
- Busses for power and clock distribution
- External connections
Testing Aspects
-Design and implementation for the experimental
verification of the circuit after fabrication

Comparison of Analog and

Digital Circuits

Skills Required for Analog IC

Design
In general, analog circuits are more complex than digital
Requires an ability to grasp multiple concepts simultaneously
Must be able to make appropriate simplifications and
assumptions
Requires a good grasp of both modeling and technology
Have a wide range of skills - breadth (analog only is rare)
Be able to learn from failure
Be able to use simulation correctly
Simulation truths:---(Usage of a simulator) x (Common sense)
= Constant
Simulators are only as good as the models and the knowledge
of those models by the designer
Simulators are only good if you already know the answers

Complexity and Design IQ as a

Function of the Number of
Transistors

TECHNOLOGY IMPACT ON ANALOG IC

DESIGN

Trends in CMOS Technology

Moores law: The minimum feature size
tends to decrease by a factor of 1/ 2 every
three years.

Semiconductor Industry Association

roadmap for CMOS

Threshold voltages and power

supply:

Trends in IC Technology
Technology Speed: Figure of Merit vs. Time:

Estimated Frequency Performance

based on Scaling:

Innovation in Analog IC Design

Technology-Driven versus
Application-Driven Innovation

Application driven circuit

innovation:

IC Design Development Time

A steeper ramp for the IC design development is
required for every new generation of technology.

Results:
Scramble to develop new tools
Complexity is increasing with each new
scaling generation
Need more trained and skilled circuit
designers

Technology impact on IC Design

The good:
Smaller geometries
Smaller parasitics
Higher transconductance
Higher bandwidths
The bad:
Reduced voltages
Smaller channel resistances (lower gain)
More nonlinearity
Deviation from square-law behavior
The ugly:
Increased substrate noise in mixed signal applications
Increased 1/f noise below 0.25m CMOS
Threshold voltages are not scaling with power supply
Suitable models for analog design not available

ANALOG SIGNAL PROCESSING

Signal Bandwidths versus Application

Signal Bandwidths versus

Technology

Analog IC Design has Reached

Maturity
There are established fields of application:
Digital-analog and analog-digital conversion
Disk drive controllers-circuit which allows the CPU to communicate

with a hard disk, floppy disk or other kind of disk drive

Modems , filters---A modem is a device that modulates an
analogue carrier signal to encode digital information, and also
demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted
information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted
easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data

Bandgap reference
Analog phase locked loops
DC-DC conversion
Buffers
Codecs---A codec is a device or program capable of performing
encoding and decoding on a digital data stream or signal.

Existing philosophy
regarding analog circuits:

If it can be done economically by digital,

dont use analog.

Consequently:
Analog finds applications where speed,
area, or power have advantages over a
digital approach.

Eggshell Analogy of Analog IC

Design (Paul Gray)

Analog Signal Processing versus

Digital Signal Processing in VLSI
Key issues:
Analog/Digital mix is application
dependent
Not scaling driven
Driven by system requirements for
programmability/adaptability/testability/des
ignability

Application Areas of Analog IC

Design
There are two major areas of analog IC design:
Restituitive - performance oriented (speed,
accuracy, power, area)
Classical analog circuit and systems design
Cognitive - function oriented (adaptable,
massively parallel)
A newly growing area inspired by biological
systems

Analog VLSI (An oxymoron):

Combination of analog circuits and VLSI
philosophies

 Many similarities between analog circuits

and biological systems
Scalability
Nonlinearity
Adaptability
Neuromorphic analog VLSI
Use of biological systems to inspire circuit
design such as smart sensors and imagers

 Smart autonomous systems

Self-guided vehicles (Mars lander)
Industrial cleanup in a hazardous
environment
Sensorimotor feedback
Self contained systems with sensor input,
motor output

What is the Future of Analog IC

Design?
Technology will require more creative circuit
solutions in order to achieve desired
performance
Analog circuits will continue to be a part of
large VLSI digital systems
Interference and noise will become even more
serious as the chip complexity increases
Packaging will be an important issue and offers
some interesting solutions
Analog circuits will always be at the cutting
edge of performance

 Analog designer must also be both a circuit

and systems designer and must know:
-Technology and modeling
-Analog circuit design
-VLSI digital design
-System application concepts
There will be no significantly new and different
technologies - innovation will combine new
applications with existing or improved
technologies

 Semicustom methodology will eventually

evolve with CAD tools that will allow:
- Design capture and reuse
- Quick extraction of model parameters from
new technology
- Test design
- Automated design and layout of simple
analog circuits

NOTATION, SYMBOLOGY, AND

TERMINOLOGY

Example:

MOS Transistor Symbols

Other Schematic Symbols

SUMMARY
Analog IC design combines a function or
application with IC technology for a successful
solution.
Analog IC design consists of three major
steps:
1.) Electrical design Topology, W/L values,
and dc currents
2.) Physical design (Layout)
3.) Test design (Testing)
Analog designers must be flexible and have a
skill set that allows one to simplify and
understand a complex problem

 Analog IC design is driven by improving

technologies rather than new technologies.
Analog IC design has reached maturity and is
here to stay.
The appropriate philosophy is If it can be
done economically by digital, dont use
analog.
As a result of the above, analog finds
applications where speed, area, or power have
advantages over a digital approach.
Deep-submicron technologies will offer severe
challenges to the creativity of the analog
designer.