Structured Electronic Design

Abstract

Analog design is all about insight. More designs lead to better insight, which is built on experience. There is no shortcut to more experience than to carry out more designs. And yet, analog design automation has been promised to build up insight faster and more efficiently. For this purpose, analog design must first be structured. This is what this book is all about. Terms such as structured design, algorithmic design, systematic design, etc. all refer to a better description of the design procedures used. They are key to the documentation of an analog circuit. They are key to the redesign of analog circuits. As a result structured design has become a necessity to efficient analog design. Structured design has become a necessity to provide optimal circuits, subject to a set of specifications. This book explains how to structure the design process such that optimal circuits result. It is divided in a number of chapters which detail the design procedures. Each chapter contains a number of examples. It is aimed at ampli- fiers first, covering all aspects such feedback, frequency compensation, noise and distortion. Finally considerable attention is paid to biasing circuits. The structured design approach is mainly illustrated by means of amplifier designs. No sampling circuits nor converters are considered. On the other hand both CMOS and Bipolar transistors are used in parallel. The first chapters introduce the fundamentals of structured design, showing how this can lead to the synthesis of analog integrated circuits. Concepts such as nullors, norators, conveyers, etc. are introduced and applied to circuits of higher complexity. Then feedback is discussed. The four types of feedback are detailed. It is shown how they naturally evolve from the basic circuit blocks of the first chapters. The two main limitations are noise at low signal levels and distortion at high signal levels. Noise receives considerable attention in this book. All aspects are discussed in great detail, such as origin, models and ways to accurately describe their influence both in the circuits themselves as towards the inputs. Amplifiers invariably use feedback to improve the accuracy and the band- width. Chapters on frequency compensation are thus inevitable. Terms such as pole splitting, pole-zero compensation, phantom zero, etc. are treated with great care and precision. This by itself is sufficient a reason to check this book out. Finally a large chapter is devoted to biasing. Most books on analog circuits omit these circuits as they seem to be of less importance. However in analog design, biasing circuits are the backbone to set the transistor parameters right. This chapter is thus very welcome. It details many circuit solutions and design examples. It can be concluded that this book is invaluable to whoever is serious in optimizing the design cycle. It shows how analog design can be structured, leading to faster design and less errors. As a result this book is key towards gaining insight in analog circuit design and performance