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发表于 2014-5-31 17:06:54
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Analog and digital circuits combined in an IC are considered mixed-signal designs.
Integrating the two types of circuitry can be challenging, but these designs can provide
system-on-a-chip (SOC) functionality that, once designed into a product, can significantly
impact final product cost. As a designer of commercially viable products, already buying
ICs from major suppliers, you could approach a major IC company and suggest that they
design a new catalog part for your application; but without some costly agreement, they
would likely offer the part to your competitors as well, somewhat dulling the advantage
you may be seeking. You can contract an IC design house to produce a design for you,
but in the process you will be transferring specific knowledge of your business to others
that you may not be able to completely control. Communication of exactly what you need
is difficult without knowledge of the IC design process; it’s like a sales guy talking to
an engineer, enough said? Further, the cost of having a design house do the work can
easily approach a million dollars, even for a fairly simple design. If you do your own
design, you can keep the details as the intellectual property of your company and get
exactly what you want, at lower cost, with well-known reasons for any trade-offs. |
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