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Article: The mixed message of mixed-signal chips: the goal of integrating analog and digital circuits will always lie just ahead. (Analog Digital).
- Article from:
- Electronic Business
- Article date:
- June 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DIGITAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT, from modern communications systems to computers, to specialized gear such as medical meters, has always needed analog circuitry to link its abstract logic with the physical world. At its simplest, that means chips to convert analog signals to digital ones, or vice versa, known as AID or DIA converters. At its most complex, it means a system on a chip (SoC), which combines on one sliver of silicon virtually all the analog and digital circuits a given device--say, a cellular phone--needs in order to function.
Greater complexity means greater technical challenge. Even so, the pressure to put more analog and digital functions on the same ...