TABLE OF CONTENTS With the evolution towards ultra-deep-submicron and nano-meter CMOS technologies [1], the design of complex Systems on a Chip (SoC) is emerging in consumer-market applications such as telecom and multimedia. These integrated systems are increasingly mixed-signal designs, embedding high-performance analogue or mixed-signal blocks and possibly sensitive RF frontends together with complex digital circuitry (multiple processors, some logic blocks and several large memory blocks) on the same chip. In addition, the growth of wireless services and other telecom applications increases the need for low-cost highly integrated solutions with very demanding performance specifications. This requires the development of intelligent front-end architectures that get around the physical limitations posed by the semiconductor technology. But also more traditional application domains like automotive or instrumentation showan increasing trend in integrating analogue sensor/actuator interfaces with digital electronics. And the emerging fields of miniaturised and possibly networked biomedical devices as well as sensor networks promises to be an even larger market for integrated mixed-signal systems.
This chapter addresses the problems and solutions that are posed by the design of such mixed-signal integrated systems. These include problems in:
design methodologies and flows;
simulation and modelling;
design productivity (synthesis, yield);
mixed-signal design verification, including analysis of signal integrity and crosstalk, for instance problems due to the embedding of analogue/RF blocks such as supply or substrate noise coupling.
The chapter explains the problems that...
