CICCx: IC Insights

Analog Circuit Design

Ramesh Harjani
University of Minnesota
harjani@umn.edu

May 2, 2017

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Talk theme
 Talk is about analog but is organized as

 Pendulum swings
 Digital
 Analog D A
 Digital

 Cross-pollination & connections

 Analog  digital
Cross-pollination
 Analog  communications
 Analog  DSP

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Communications D

 We think that digital communications is a relative modern

invention that mostly resulted from Shannon’s
communication theory

 Morse code via telegraph (1844)

 “Digital” communication
 Enabled lots of new technology
Marvin the Robot, “The telegraph, Internet’s
 Edison quadraplex (full duplex) Grandpa: the beginning of the information era”

 Edison universal stock printer (1871)

 Nyquist theory (1924) “Certain factors affecting Telegraph speed”
 Precursor to switching theory & computers
 Precursor to the telephone (Bell)
 Breakthrough: stop thinking digital & started thinking “analog”

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 Analog Communications A

 Reginald Aubrey Fessenden (started with Edison)

 “Father” of radio – first to transmit sound of human voice
 "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are Mr.
Thiessen? If it is, telegraph back and let me know."
December 23rd, 1900, 1st wireless voice transmission
 Patent 706,737, applied for in 1901 for AM modulation
 A high-speed alternator generated the AM sine waves

Alexanderson alternator (1904) Grimeton, Sweden

VLF (17.2KHz, Antenna 1.9km) TX, world heritage site

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Fessenden
Continuous Time Analog Filters A

 LC ladder filters
 Inductors not easily integrated

 Active RC filters
C2 R 1
Av =
− 2 ; so =
R1 R2C2
1
H ( s ) = Av
R1 R2
 s
1 + s 
 o 

 Resistance are physically large on chip

 Filter frequencies vary with temperature & process

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Discrete-Time Analog A

 David L. Fried proposed passive SC filters (1972) D

 David Allstot & Ken Martin (1978) simultaneously
proposed parasitic insensitive SC filters
C2
C2 R C2 R
C2R
2 =Av = ; so f c
C1R C2
1
1 1
C1R =H ( s ) Av
= ; R 2 eqv
1 2
 s f c C2 R
1 + s 
2
1  o 

 Pole frequency now process & temperature independent

 Needed to understand Z-domain
 Smaller area for lower power for SC circuits
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Complex Filters A

 Filter theory started with CT analogue filters D

 Hermann von Helmholtz (1847)  energy conservation
 Network filter synthesis (Yuk-Wing Lee 1930) after
conversations with Vannevar Bush
 Digital complex filters known by 1968 (Crystal & Ehrman)
 Analog complex filters known by 1982 (M. Snelgrove, PhD)

 Realizations

1 1
→
s−d s − (d + j ⋅ c)

 Rediscovered by J. Crols for image reject TXR [1995]

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Data Converters A

 Analog to digital converters

 Flash, subranging, pipeline, SAR converters
 Incremental converters (J. Roberts JSSC 1987)
 All work by thinking in the time-domain

16 bit converter
216 clock cycles per conversion
216 = 65,536
Has all the components of a Σ∆ but
still thinking time-domain

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Sigma-Delta Converter A

 Lots of sigma-delta converter research in the 80’s D

 4th order 16-bit converter  oversampling ratio of 32

What has happened

• Noise shaping
• Low pass filtering

 BT Started thinking of quantization noise in frequency domain

Ramesh Harjani CICCx IC Insights: Analog Circuit Design 9 of 17
Analog Computers A

 Differential analyser: mechanical analogue computers to

solve differential equations by integration (1836 Coriolis)
 Most successful differential analyser built by Harold L.
Hazen and Vannevar Bush at MIT (1928-1931)
 Electronic computers based on opamps, resistors,
capacitors are well-suited for solving differential equations

Vannevar Bush with differential analyser (1930) Beckman computer at San Francisco airport (1956)

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 Operational Amplifier A

 Vacuum tube (1940), transistors in 1950s & ICs in 1960s

 DC-coupled, high gain (> 60dB), inverting amplifier
 Feedback critical developments of the 20th century (Bell labs)
 Harold S. Black (1934), Tellegen 1937 paper, Otto Schmitt 1938
(long-tailed differential pair, chopper amplifier, Schmitt trigger,
established the field of biomedical engineering - Minnesota)
 John Ragazzini (Columbia, Kalman’s advisor)
 An amplifier connected to perform mathematical
operations of arithmetic and calculus is called an
“operational amplifier”.

LM741

www.thevalvewizard.co.uk

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Digital Computers D

 The real turning point in digital computer came when:

 Claude E. Shannon, BS in Math & EE from Michigan

 Introduced to George Boole’s work at Michigan
 MS EE from MIT (Vannevar Bush) and PhD in Math (Hitchcock)
 A symbolic analysis of relay and switching circuits (1938)
 A connection between Boolean calculus and physical circuits

 In the control and protective circuits of complex electrical systems it is

frequently necessary to make intricate interconnections of relay contacts
and switches. Examples of these circuits occur in automatic telephone
exchanges, industrial motor-control equipment, and it almost any circuits
designed to perform complex operations automatically. In this paper a
mathematical analysis of certain of the properties of such networks will be
made. Particular attentions will be given to problem of network synthesis.

No mention of computers … did not exist yet

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Analog vs Digital Processing A

 Analog power vs digital power (Vittoz ISCAS 1990) D

1/Fs
Class B Vdd
Amplifier Vdd
Volt Panalog= 8kT ⋅ f ⋅ SNR ⋅
Vpp Vpp
CL
Pdigital = m ⋅ f ⋅ Etr
Time

Analog vs digital power

• Analog power is orders of
magnitude lower for low SNR

• Digital better for higher

resolutions

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Analog vs Digital Insights A

 Why large power for digital at low SNRs D

0 1

Noise
Wasted SNR

1
Inverter Re-quantizing
0

 For larger Vdds too much SNR  wasted power

 Re-quantizing logic at every operation (Carver Mead)

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New Computational Paradigms A

 Approximate computing D
 Bounded less expensive solutions
 k-means clustering a 5% accuracy loss 50X power reduction
Multiplier
 Stochastic computing
 Extremely simple logic circuits
 Resilient to a small number of errors

 Neuromorphic computing
 Brian1011 simple computational, low power, analog learning,
robust to errors
 Pioneering work from Carver Mead & students

Cochlear implant
Advanced Bionics

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Summary
 There is a pendulum swings in many domains
 Servers  desktop computers  phones & server

A D

 Big jumps is likely to come from cross pollination

 Analog, digital, communications, EF fields

 Important to spend time with people who are different

from us

 Have fun & take time to reflect

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References
 Thomas L. Marzetta, Nokia Bell Labs, “From Armstrong, through Shannon, to massive MIMO:
100 years of wireless technological progress, UMN DTC 4/13/17
 E. Chiu, J Lin, B McFerron, N Petigara and S Sehasi, “Mathematical Theory of Claude
Shannon”, Report 6.933J/STS.420J, The Structure of Engineering Revolutions, 2001
 Reginald Fessenden
 Hammond Museum of Radio,
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Fessenden
 Scientific American, January 19, 1907, “Recent progress in wireless telephony”
 Alex Bochannek, Computer History Museum, “Why analog computers”
 Carver Mead – Semiconductors, www.youtube.com
 David Johns & Ken Martin, Analog Integrated Circuit Design, Wiley
 Kenneth W. Martin, “Complex signal processing is not complex”, TCAS I Sept 2004
 Ramesh Harjani, Jackson Harvey, “Tutorial: CMOS Analog Circuits for Wireless
Communications”, VLSI Design, Bangalore 2001
 Michael P. Flynn, “Back to the Future: Those who ignore history are doomed to re-invent it”,
2008 Texas Instruments
 Opamp history, Walt Jung, Analog Devices
 M. H Najafi, S Jamali-Zavareh, D.J. Lilja, M.D. Riedel, K. Bazargan, R. Harjani, “Time-encoded
values for highly efficient stochastic circuits, TVLSI 2017
 C. C. Enz and E. A. Vittoz, "CMOS low-power analog circuit design," Emerging Technologies:
Designing Low Power Digital Systems, Atlanta, GA, 1996, pp. 79-133.
 Marc Riedel, University of Minnesota

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