In analog world, little things mean a lot

In analog world, little things mean a lot
Texas Instruments displayed a subtle shift in strategy at its financial analysts' meeting last month. While custom ICs (especially those incorporating DSPs) will remain a major part of TI's strategy, new emphasis is being placed on "catalog parts"-analog building blocks. TI will introduce more than 160 of those this year, according to vice president Del Whittaker and marketing manager Dan Reynolds. Though the parts are meant to have broad appeal, they will not be second sources for other companies' high-volume part types.

How TI could push proprietary part types into a growing but otherwise well-defined market is a bit of a head-scratcher for someone like me who sees a lot of glamour and volume in market-focused devices like modem and disk-drive chips. But analog companies like Maxim Integrated Products and Linear Technology Corp. are easily bringing out three or four new products a week. Those companies show steady growth and profitability doing building blocks.

A recent visit to Burr-Brown and LTC showed where the analog mind is focused: on a careful attention to small, but sometimes meaningful specs. I'm not one to drool every time somebody shaves a microvolt from the input offset of an op amp. But if you sit with technologists like Howard Skolnik, strategic planning manager over at Burr-Brown, or Bob Dobkin, vice president of engineering at Linear Technology-guys who clearly love this stuff-you'll find your enthusiasm for analog rekindled.

One of the tricks, said Skolnik, is to start with a part type you know and love-then make it better. The guy touched a nerve: I had switched career directions and joined Signetics 20 years ago because I was in love with a low-noise audio op amp, the NE5534. Skolnik wowed me with a part he has just introduced: the OPA227, a cross between the NE5534 audio op amp and the classic OP27 precision measurement device. (You audiophiles: Think of the bass response on this one!)

LTC's Dobkin similarly tickled my fancy with his company's LTC2400, a micropower 24-bit sigma-delta A/D converter, geared for weigh stations. Sheer analog cleverness reduced the size of this device down to 10,000 mm2 in 2-micron CMOS.

Dobkin reminded me of what happens to overly specialized analog parts in fast-growth markets. "We don't want to do a part," he said, "that takes off and crashes."