Combines analog and digital blocks on one chip.
Mixed-signal chips combine analogue (ADC, PLL, amplifiers) and digital blocks. Challenges: substrate noise coupling, isolating supplies, guard rings, floorplanning and verification across domains. Co-simulation uses Verilog-A/AMS.
A sensor interface chip integrates amplifier, ADC and microcontroller.
Mixed-signal chips combine analogue and digital circuits, which is common in sensors, communications and audio products.
Combines analog and digital blocks on one chip.
Mixed-signal chips combine analogue and digital circuits, which is common in sensors, communications and audio products.
Digital switching noise couples into sensitive analogue circuits through the supply and substrate, so isolation and careful layout are needed.
Digital current spikes can disturb the analogue reference and supply, so separate filtered supplies reduce this coupling.
Typical applications include integrating an ADC, DAC and processor on one microcontroller, designing a wireless transceiver with analogue RF and digital baseband and building a sensor interface with analogue front end and digital logic.
Study "Electromagnetic interference mitigation" first (topic 97 of 104 in Electronics & Embedded). It covers the groundwork this topic builds on.
Isolation techniques. Calibration. Noise budget.
A sensor interface chip integrates amplifier, ADC and microcontroller.
The next topic is "Phase-locked loops", which builds directly on this one.
It is classed as Advanced in Electronics & Embedded (topic 98 of 104). It is an advanced topic. It assumes you are comfortable with the intermediate topics in Electronics & Embedded.
Want to practise? Open the interactive course for quick checks, quizzes, simulations and progress tracking.