COURSE: TEL 531

ANALOGUE IC DESIGNS AND APPLICATIONS

Lecture 01: Introduction to Analogue Integrated Circuits

Introduction

In 1947, William B. Shockley and his team invented the Transistor. Using the same principles and
materials, engineers soon learned to create other electrical components, such as resistors and
capacitors. This presented an opportunity for radios and other hitherto large electronic devices to
become more compact than the days of vacuum tubes. Now that electrical devices could be made so
small, the largest part of a circuit was the awkward wiring between the components.

In 1958, Jack Kilby and Robert Noyce invented the concept of integrated circuit which made it even
more possible to reduce circuit sizes further. Ever since then, the struggle for further reduction in
circuit sizes has led to technology migrations from small-scale integration (SSI) to medium-scale
integration (MSI) to large-scale integration (LSI) to very-large-scale integration (VLSI) and to ultra-
high-scale integration (ULSI), depending on improvements in the number of components that can be
fitted within a space. The invention of the integrated circuit made technologies of the Information
Age feasible.
Since semiconductors make up diodes, transistors, operation amplifiers, logic gates, and some
resistors; all useful components on an electronic circuit, it is only logical that an electronic circuit
comprising any or all of these components can be built on a single piece of semiconducting material.
Such circuit (known as an Integrated Circuit) would be found to perform the same function as a
similar but larger circuit made from discrete components.

The study of methods of creating electronic devices using solid materials became known as solid-
state electronics. Solid-state devices proved to be much sturdier, easier to work with, more reliable,
much smaller, and less expensive than vacuum tubes. Using the same principles and materials,
engineers soon learned to create other electrical components, such as resistors and capacitors. Now
that electrical devices could be made so small, the largest part of a circuit was the awkward wiring
between the devices.

An Integrated circuit (IC), also called microelectronic circuit, microchip, or chip, can be defined as an
assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit, in which miniaturized active devices
(e.g., transistors and diodes) and passive devices (e.g., capacitors and resistors) and their
interconnections are built up on a thin substrate of semiconductor material (typically silicon). The
resulting circuit is thus a small monolithic “chip,” which may be as small as a few square centimetres
or only a few square millimetres. The individual circuit components are generally microscopic in size.

In coming up with the concept of an integrated circuit, what Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments, Inc.,
and Robert Noyce of Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation independently thought of was to lay very
thin paths of metal (usually aluminum or copper) directly on the same piece of material as their
devices. These small paths acted as wires. With this technique an entire circuit could be “integrated”
on a single piece of solid material and an integrated circuit (IC) thus created.

ASSIGNMENT HW 01

Submit a write up detailing the procedure used in making an IC.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Integrated Circuit

Advantages

ICs have advantages over those that are made by interconnecting discrete components. These
include:

o Extreme space conservation as the physical size of an IC is much smaller than the discrete
circuit.
o Extreme weight reduction as the weight of an IC is much smaller than the discrete circuit.
o ICs require lower energy consumption and less heat dissipation than the discrete circuit.
o ICs can be easily replaced.
o ICs are more reliable because there is no soldered joints.
o ICs have a lower cost of production.

Disadvantages

Despite the advantages that ICs provide, there are inherent limitations. These include:

o ICs cannot be repaired as the individual components inside the IC are too small.
o The power rating is limited, majorly less than 10 watts.
o ICs operates at low voltage
o ICs produce noise during operation
o IC passive components such as resistors and capacitors are voltage dependent

Types of Integrated Circuits

ICs can be categorised based on a number of factors. They could be categorised based on the
size/number of components or based on the technique for manufacturing them, or based on the
type of electrical signals they are designed for. SSI, MSI, LSI, VLSI, ULSI and even GSI (Giga Scale
Integration) are types of ICs based on the number of components integrated in a chip.
Based on the method or techniques used in manufacturing them, types of ICs can be divided into
three classes:

o Thin and thick film ICs

Thin and Thick ICs:

In thin or thick film ICs, passive components such as resistors, capacitors are integrated but the
diodes and transistors are connected as separate components to form a single and a complete
circuit. Thin and thick ICs that are produced commercially are merely the combination of integrated
and discrete (separate) components.

Thick and thin ICs have similar characteristics, similar appearance except the method of film
deposition. Method of deposition of films distinguished Thin ICs from Thick ICs.

Thin and Thick ICsThin film ICs are made by depositing films of a conducting material on a glass
surface or on a ceramic base. By varying the thickness of the films deposited on the materials having
different resistivity, Passive electronic components like resistors and capacitors can be
manufactured.

In Thick film ICs, silk printing technique is used to create the desired pattern of the circuit on a
ceramic substrate. Thick-film ICs are sometimes referred to as printed thin-film.

The screens are actually made of fine stainless steel wire mesh and the links (connections) are pastes
having conductive, resistive or dielectric properties. The circuits are fired in a furnace at a high
temperature so as to fuse the films to the substrate after printing.

Monolithic ICs

In monolithic ICs, the discrete components, the active and the passive and also the interconnections
between then are formed on a silicon chip. The word monolithic is actually derived from two Greek
words “mono” meaning one or single and Lithos meaning stone. Thus monolithic circuit is a circuit
that is built into a single crystal.

Monolithic ICs are the most common types ICs in use today. Its cost of production is cheap and is
reliable. Commercially manufactured ICs are used as amplifiers, voltage regulators, in AM receivers,
and in computer circuits. However, despite all these advantages and vast fields of application of
monolithic ICs, it has limitations. The insulation between the components of monolithic ICs is poor. It
also have low power rating, fabrication of insulators is not that possible and so many other factors.

Hybrid or Multi chip ICs

As the name implies, “Multi”, more than one individual chips are interconnected. The active
components that are contained in this kind of ICs are diffused transistors or diodes. The passive
components are the diffused resistors or capacitors on a single chip.

These components are connected by metallised patterns. Hybrid ICs are widely used for high power-
amplifier applications from 5W to more than 50W. Its performance is better than that of monolithic
ICs.

Based on the signals type, types of ICs can be divided into three classes:

o Analogue ICs
o Digital ICs
o Mixed Signal ICs

DIGITAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Digital integrated circuits work on the basic digital system i.e. two defined level which is 0’s and 1’s
(in other words, Low and High or ON and OFF respectively). Microprocessor and Micro controller is
the example of Digital ICs which contains of millions of flip flops and logic gates.

ANALOGUE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Analogue ICs work by processing continuous signals i.e. analogue signal. OP-AMP (Operational
Amplifier), NE 555 Timers, power management circuits and sensors are the example of Analogue ICs.
These types of ICs are used for amplification, filtering, modulation, and demodulation. Analogue ICs
ease the burden on circuit designers by having expertly designed analogue circuits available instead
of designing a difficult analogue circuit from scratch.
MIXED SIGNAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Mixed Signal Integrated Circuit is a kind of IC where both Digital and Analogue ICs are combined on a
single chip. They create functions such as A/D converters and D/A converters. Such circuits offer
smaller size and lower cost, but must carefully account for signal interference.

DIFFERENTIATING ANALOGUE FROM DIGITAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

Analogue, or linear integrated circuits typically use only a few components and are thus some of the
simplest types of ICs. Generally, analogue circuits are connected to devices that collect signals from
the environment or send signals back to the environment. For example, a microphone converts
fluctuating vocal sounds into an electrical signal of varying voltage. An analogue circuit then modifies
the signal in some useful way—such as amplifying it or filtering it of undesirable noise. Such a signal
might then be fed back to a loudspeaker, which would reproduce the tones originally picked up by
the microphone. Another typical use for an analogue circuit is to control some devices in response to
continual changes in the environment. For example, a temperature sensor sends a varying signal to a
thermostat, which can be programmed to turn an air conditioner, heater, or oven on and off once
the signal has reached a certain value.

A digital circuit, on the other hand, is designed to accept only voltages of specific given values. A
circuit that uses only two states is known as a binary circuit. Circuit design with binary quantities,
“on” and “off” representing 1 and 0 (i.e., true and false), uses the logic of Boolean algebra.
(Arithmetic is also performed in the binary number system employing Boolean algebra.) These basic
elements are combined in the design of ICs for digital computers and associated devices to perform
the desired functions.

APPLICATION-SPECIFIC ICs

An application-specific IC (ASIC) can be either a digital or an analogue circuit. As their name implies,
ASICs are not reconfigurable; they perform only one specific function. For example, a speed
controller IC for a remote control car is hard-wired to do one job and could never become a
microprocessor. An ASIC does not contain any ability to follow alternate instructions.

Radio-frequency ICs (RFICs) are another example of ASIC. They are widely used in mobile phones and
wireless devices. RFICs are analogue circuits that usually run in the frequency range of 3 kHz to 2.4
GHz (3,000 hertz to 2.4 billion hertz), circuits that would work at about 1 THz (1 trillion hertz) being
in development. They are usually thought of as ASICs even though some may be configurable for
several similar applications.

Most semiconductor circuits that operate above 500 MHz (500 million hertz) cause the electronic
components and their connecting paths to interfere with each other in unusual ways. Engineers
must use special design techniques to deal with the physics of high-frequency microelectronic
interactions.

In the next lecture, we will be looking at the manufacturing procedure for analogue circuits and
paying close attention to the design of Application Specific Integrated Circuits that are analogue
signal based.