Real Analog Solutions for Digital Designers

keenboyee

模拟电子书籍
I went to an analog university where the core courses were, of course, all analog. Then I
started my career at a high-quality, premier, analog house; Burr-Brown. Mind you, my objective
was not to work at an analog house, my objective was to have a job. Nonetheless, there
I rubbed shoulders with the best analog engineers in industry. After thirteen years, I decided
to expand my horizons and work for a digital company. For me, thirteen was a lucky number
because this is when my real education began.
What did I learn? I learned that you design your circuit so that it works in the application, not
so that you have the most elegant solution in industry. I also learned that you can use digital
circuits as well as analog circuits to get the job done. Moreover, I learned that sometimes
ignorance is bliss. Many of the digital engineers that I have worked with don’t know that
some tasks are impossible. For instance, at Burr-Brown we trimmed our precision analog
circuits with the high technology of Nicrome. This trim process is very specific to analog
silicon circuits and is accurate. I told the engineers that they could not have precision products
without a Nicrome process. Boy was I wrong. Microchip trims in analog circuit precision
with their digital Flash process.
I have always been a “died in the wool” analog engineer, but I am starting to change. I haven’t
made a total transition to the “dark (digital) side,” but digital is looking more attractive all
the time. This attraction is enhanced by the fact that I am very familiar with analog and have
a diverse set of analog, and now digital, tools to solve my circuit problems. This book is for
you so that you can also have the same set of tools and can become more competitive in your
design endeavors.
Digital circuitry and software is encroaching into the analog hardware domain. Analog will
never disappear at the sensor conditioning circuit, power supply, or layout strategies. I know
the digital engineer will continue to be challenged by analog issues, even if they deny that
they exist.
Now let’s add to the complexity of the digital engineer’s challenges. The advances in microcontroller
and microprocessor chip designs are growing in every direction. Increased speed and
memory is just one example of the direction that these devices are taking. However, the most
interesting change is the addition of peripherals, including analog and interface circuitry. Not
only is the engineer required to know the details of the implementation of these peripherals,but also know the basics of layout strategies. Today, the digital engineer needs an added dimension
of knowledge in order to solve problems beyond the firmware design challenges.
Going forward, the digital engineer needs some basic tools in their toolbox. I wrote this book
for practicing digital engineers, students, educators and hands-on managers who are looking
for the analog foundation that they need to handle their daily engineering problems. It will
serve as a valuable reference for the nuts-and-bolts of system analog design in a digital word.
The target audience for this book is the embedded design engineer that has the good fortune
to wander into the analog domain.