Inspiring Analog System Design and Innovation at Entry-level

The (electronic) world is going Digital, Why Analog Today?

World as everyone knows is Analog

Unless, of course it is Digital

`Analog & RF bring the bits to life'

Analog/RF Interfaces

Digital Core
SOC

Analog has still much to offer

Interesting fact:
There's more analog in a digital handset than in an analog handset

Revival of Analog in Industries WSTS Semiconductor Market Forecast Autumn 2011

Analog design in the universities Widening gap between institutions and industrial practices
Analog design is least popular in universities Software projects dominate Digital design is perceived as easier Analog is a major area of focus for TI TI recruits analog VLSI designers and analog field application engineers Our customers recruit analog system designers Growing gap between industrial practices and university curriculum Universities curriculum designed in the 1970s

Growing gap between industrial practices and the University curriculum

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TI India Analog University Program

Geared to reduce the gap between industrial practices and university analog curriculum TI India Analog Design Contest Faculty Internships Faculty Development Programs

Analog Teaching Aids

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Analog in the curriculum A Historical Overview (1)

Analog electronics became allpervasive during the era of vacuum tubes (1960s and 1970s) Audio amplifiers Radio & TV receivers Telephones Analog computers Circuits used passive devices (R, L, C) abundantly and active devices like electron tubes sparingly

70 Watt audio amplifier selling at $2680 in 2011 (Wikipedia) Music fanatics continue to swear by the quality of audio from vacuum tube amplifiers!

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A Historical Overview Era of Discrete Transistors (2)

In the 1970s, after the advent of transistors, BJTs JFETs and MOSFETs became popular Integrated circuits emerged More active devices, less of R, C Inductors were totally eliminated BJT circuits were introduced in the curriculum Common emitter, Common collector, Common base configurations Curriculum introduced Common source, common drain, common gate configurations! Multistage amplifiers Op-Amps Comparators Regulators Instrumentation amplifiers
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Historical Overview Era of MOS VLSI (3)

How the digital curriculum evolved Mead and Conway approach Levels of abstraction Transistor-level Gate-level RTL System-level Hardware description languages like VHDL and Verilog Logic synthesis tools and simulators Standard cells and design reuse How the analog curriculum evolved (or did not evolve) Remained unchanged A new course on Linear Integrated Circuits was introduced as an elective course in a higher semester Applications of Op-Amps

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What exists now as basic electronics curriculum

Not much has changed in the way electronics is taught Elaborate introduction to semiconductor device physics PN junctions and Field Effect Device Characteristics Equivalent circuits Biasing Circuits such as amplifiers, rectifiers, wave-shaping circuits, System-level teaching is either an undergraduate elective at a higher semester or is taught in postgraduate courses Popularity of microprocessors and DSP had an impact on the analog content Most of system level understanding could not be incorporated in basic courses

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Proposed Solution Duplicate the success of digital design methodology

Digital Truth tables and functional behavior Rise time, fall time, transition delay, noise margin Functional models Combinational and Sequential logic design Applications Methodology is independent of target technology Analog I/O characteristics of basic blocks (idealized behavior) Frequency response, Gainbandwidth product, limitations, slew-rate, Macromodels Use building blocks to build larger systems (filters, AGC, control systems, etc.) Realization using the current technology (technologies may change dont start with devices!)
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Teaching Aid designed for Universities

Analog System Lab Starter Kit Provides a solution for teaching analog system design Lab manual with 10 experiments is included Uses op-amps, analog multipliers, DAC, Open architecture to allow more experiments using minimal external connections Focus on simulation and handson experimentation Simulate using macro-models for ICs Build the actual circuit and compare the response De-emphasize transistor-level design!

Postpone transistor-level VLSI design to higher-levels

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ASLKv2010 Starter Kit and Analog System Lab Manual

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Experiments on ASLKv2010 Starter Kit

Interface Pre-amplifier, power-amplifier, power-supply management Signal Conditioning Filters (Pre-filtering and Post-filtering) Digital Communication FSK, Packet Switching Clock Generators, PLLs 1. Negative Feedback amplifiers and Instrumentation amplifiers 2. Schmitt Trigger, Astable Multivibrator 3. Integrators and Differentiators 4. Universal Active Filter 5. Voltage controlled Filter, Self-tuned Filter 6. Function Generator and VCO 7. PLL

8. AGC/AVC
9. DC-DC Converter 10. LDO
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Popularizing the Analog System Lab Kit

First university product designed and manufactured in India Released by Darla Whitaker (23-Feb-2011)

Trained ~800 students and ~200 faculty

Was used to train new college graduates recruited in TI India (2011) Presently manufactured and sold by Cranes Software Established ~40 labs in 2011 Bosch has used ASLK to train their engineers in Analog Bangalore campus Coimbatore campus

Europe has adopted the kit in their University Program Mikroelektronika will produce and market the kits

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Conclusions
Analog System Lab Kit was designed in TI India as an educational product for Indian Universities Attempts to change the focus from transistor-level to system-level at the basic undergraduate level Proposes to postpone transistor-level VLSI design to higher undergraduate/post-graduate level It has been adopted in Europe and is being considered by some regions covered by TI China University Program It is being viewed as a training kit for entry-level engineers in several customer companies such as Robert Bosch

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