Abstract:
Analog design has become one of the most important and challenging aspects of semiconductor IC design and will continue to be increasingly critical over the next 5-7 years. There are multiple IC market segments that use analog designs, and each of these segments drive different requirements for analog circuits and process technologies. One important and rapidly growing market segment is the pure-play analog IC market targeting automotive, industrial, and medical applications. These ICs are implemented in analog specific processes, such as BCD, with unique requirements for high power, robustness, and reliability. Another segment is very large SoC IC segment that is used for computing applications. These ICs are implemented in the most aggressive FinFET processes that require high-precision, low-power, low-noise analog IP for data conversion and high speed interfaces. A third segment is being driven by the emerging IoT market which requires analog and sensor designs that are extremely low-power with high-yield, and price points near zero dollars. Further complicating the matter is the fact that these ICs include a significant amount of digital functionality, requiring mixed-signal design verification. The trends show that the requirements from these segments will become even more challenging and divergent over the next 5-7 years as the respective end markets continue to grow. Meeting the unique requirements of these segments drives new analog circuit architectures, novel process technologies and improved EDA tools such that designers can meet their targets. This talk will summarize the analog design challenges in these different segments and highlight how the design ecosystem is changing to address these challenges.