Digitally Assisted Analog Circuits; Fifth IEEE Dallas Circuits and Systems Workshop

This paper presents compelling reasons for "digitally assisting" analog functions and important design considerations. ADCs, power amplifier, and MEMS accelerometer are used as examples. In a variety of analog circuits, "digital assistance" can be used to offload accuracy constraints to a digital processor. Key benefits are lower power and potentially higher speed and compatibility with "ultimately scaled CMOS" while key challenges are interdisciplinary nature of design problem; device modeling, circuit design, signal processing algorithms, and consideration of application layer; and design complexity and turnaround time