Behavioral simulators are designed primarily to speed up simulations of the analog side of a mixed-signal chip.
The front-end electronics (FEE) utilizes two custom chips: an 18 channel analog preamplifier and shaper (PASA) and a mixed-signal chip, performing 10 bit analog-to-digital conversion, event buffering and local tracking (TRAP).
The entire echelon of analog and mixed-signal chip makers is doing well.
Longer-term, it remains to be seen if this business transformation will elevate the company to the higher ranks of analog, mixed-signal chip makers, a rarefied group which has traditionally carried the highest of valuations.
Using this hybrid circuit topology, CMFD signaling over a chip-to-chip interconnect is demonstrated.
Now it is among the leaders" in designing mixed-signal chips, one of the fastest-growing segments of computing.
For designs that contain both analog and digital circuitry (mixed-signal chips), standard analog and digital simulators are not sufficient.
That combination, they say, will allow advanced "mixed-signal" chips that support both computing applications as well as high-frequency communications applications.
For the construction of mixed-signal chips for cellular telephones and other wireless LAN applications (Bluetooth, HIPERLAN, etc).
Just as digital controls get higher efficiency out of an automobile engine, tiny digital circuits on such mixed signal chips can fine-tune the performance of the analog portion of the chip or help it avoid damage.
