DesignCon Panel: Is it time for an analog comeback?

1/26/2012 2:33 PM EST

A few months ago, I was asked to organize and moderate a panel for DesignCon. It seemed to me (given that I am kind of a digital guy) that DesignCon was being taken over again by the analog guys. It then occurred to me that more of the digital circuitry is beginning to behave more like analog these days and there are many parts of a chip where the two are becoming inseparable. Thus, the idea for the panel was formed. When I first proposed several editors within UBM said things such as “But all digital is analog anyways”, to “you will never find anyone who is willing to discuss that”.

I was beginning to believe the second of those statements as I went from company to company asking them to send a panelist. I was beginning to think that there were no analog guys willing to be on panels – or maybe I just don’t know enough to ask. Finally, the panel came together and I have just assembled all of the slides and I think it is going to be fun. I am not going to say anything else at this point. You will just have to be there!

The fun will start at 3:45 on Tuesday January 31^st in Ballroom F.

Abstract:

It seems as if analog almost became a thing of the past. Designs converted analog signals into digital as quickly as they could, leaving only small amounts of analog off-chip. But today much of that analog circuitry has migrated on-chip. Radios and high-speed communications are now fully integrated, power saving schemes are adding new types of analog content, signal integrity and high-speed issues often require analog analysis, and these are demanding better tools and flows to handle the mixed-signal aspects of a design. In addition, there are some parts of a design that operate at speeds greater than digital is capable of. With better tools, will the percentage of the chip consumed by analog increase again? Will the shrinking geometries cause even greater difficulties for analog?

I hope to see you there!