Talk:Mixed-signal integrated circuit

distinction
As the article distinguishes between digital signal processing circuits and digital circuits, what is the difference between these two? --Abdull (talk) 11:19, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

I agree that they sound confusingly similar. First let me point out that there are 2 kinds of "signal processing circuits" -- the analog kind and the digital kind.

A digital signal processor (DSP) is one specific kind of microprocessor, which is one specific kind of digital circuit.

A DSP is specifically designed to rapidly and with low latency run programs that do things like bandpass filtering and FFT on a stream of numbers (a "signal") collected by an analog-to-digital converter, or doing IFFT and filtering to generate a stream of numbers (a "signal") to send out a digital-to-analog converter, or both.

Compared to a DSP, other kinds of microprocessors, such as the one embedded in a standard IBM PC keyboard, are also designed to run programs, but typically handle other kinds of data, and typically are not as concerned with latency.

Compared to a microprocessor, other kinds of digital circuits, such as NOR gates and FPGAs, are not designed to run programs.

How could we improve the article to make it less confusing? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 20:05, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * "DSP waveforms are discrete in time but still continuous, or analog, in value. Digital waveforms are both discrete in time and value."
 * -- "From s to z: the Complex-Frequency Domain" by Dennis Feucht


 * Is this an oversimplification? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 14:15, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

definition
I tried to add this definition to the article:


 * A mixed-signal integrated circuit is any integrated circuit that has both analog circuits and digital circuits on a single semiconductor die.

To meet Verifiability, I added 3 references that give more or less the same definition.

Alas, this definition and those references have been deleted from this article without comment. As far as I can tell, since no reason was given for that deletion, that deletion was accidental, so I reverted it. Then this definition was deleted again.

Could we talk about this rather than starting a Edit war ? --68.0.124.33 (talk) 01:36, 6 October 2008 (UTC)


 * The person doing the reverting does not seem very interested in discussing. I have put the article back (and also fixed the References section).  I have also deleted the stuff about 555 timers, this is completely unreferenced.  It is true that 555 timers were never called mixed-signal but that is only because the technology is very old and predates all concepts of VLSI, mixed-signal and DSPs.  If the terminology had been around when they were first made, I am sure they would have been called just that.  I think the IP poster is just plain wrong that DSP is required in the definition.  If he can find a ref, then fine lets mention it, but in the meantime it is not hard to find refs that contradict him/her.  This google search comes up, at the top of the list with this high quality reference describing the 555 timer as mixed signal (you probably cannot read anything but the abstract unless you can get throught the paywall with an account, but you can see the relevant sentence in the google search results).  The behaviour of this IP is verging on vandalism and I propose to start issuing vandal warnings if he/she does not come here to discuss there edits first.  Sp in ni  ng  Spark  11:11, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Analog Efficiency
I would argue that MOSFETS are much better suited for many analog circuits than BJTS. They certainly make better amplifiers in many circumstances. They are also significantly better when creating current mirrors. In addition to this, designing analog circuits with MOSFETs suits mixed-signal applications much better since all significant digital circuits are done with MOSFETs at present. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.192.145.200 (talk) 09:46, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

External links modified (February 2018)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Mixed-signal integrated circuit. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101011225325/http://www.cmoset.com/uploads/6A.4-08.pdf to http://www.cmoset.com/uploads/6A.4-08.pdf

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 23:36, 2 February 2018 (UTC)