Integrated circuits and integrated systems

Rapid progress made in integrated circuit production daring the past two years has resulted in improved reliability at lower cost for high-volume standard circuits. However, gains made at the device and circuit level can sometimes be offset at the system level, particularly if the normal range of components is not available. This paper considers some of the system tradeoffs involved in standardization vs optimization of circuits and illustrates some of the penalties paid when capacitors, inductors and transformers are not available in integrated structures. Unconventional system organizations may sometimes be used to overcome the problems of limited component availability. An illustration is given of the design of a multiplex system based upon spread spectrum techniques in order to utilize more fully the advantages of integrated circuits.