Learning experience of three classic textbooks of analog integrated circuit design

The following is a reply to the learning experience of three classic textbooks of analog integrated circuit design in the eetop forum. Author: The ID of eetop forum is "Flying White Fox". I don't know if this ID is the real author, but it may be quoted from other parts of the network. In short, I pay tribute to the author of Four Realms of Analog Circuits! )

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After three books, you can basically get started. You can do projects with Daniel and then read more IEEE materials. (Reference source, operational amplifier, comparator) You need to continue training. (A great warrior said, read the post, the four realms of analog circuits-there are at the end of the article). Then from CMOS to BICMOS and so on! !

Recommend two better books (more professional) introduction education of CMOS operational amplifier and comparator; Design of Analog Chip

I just learned, I can't say it well, and I'm not professional. Please remind me more.

Four fields of analog circuits

It has been eight years since Fudan began to study as a graduate student majoring in microelectronics analog chip design, during which I listened to the opinions of many experts at home and abroad. Recently, at the invitation of a friend, I wrote some thoughts and shared them with you.

I remember that when I just graduated from college, I went to the State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System in Yifu Building of Fudan University as a graduate student because I planned to study sensors. It is meaningful to think of the name of this laboratory now, but I was disconsolate at that time. Circuit and system seem to be two concepts and two levels. Some of my classmates are graduate students majoring in electronics and information systems. At that time, I knew that they were "systems" and we designed analog "circuits", so we naturally favored circuits. Beginners of analog chip design are always envious of fancy circuits, especially the most authoritative magazine JSSC in this field, which used to be very fond of reading. At that time, I made up my mind to read articles for nearly 20 years, read all the wonderful books, and always looked forward to when I could fill in an article. At that time, there were few articles published in this magazine in China. Even if I was studying for a doctorate abroad, it would be excellent to post an article on it.

When I was in graduate school, my tutor was Professor Zheng Zengyu. At that time, Teacher Li Lian had retired. Shaw Bookstore invites Mr. Li to give guidance every week. Teacher Zheng is rigorous in his studies and a heroine among women. Teacher Li is a pioneer of analog circuits in China, and is now employed as an expert or consultant by many companies. A book written by Teacher Li 1987 (operational amplifier design); Even now it seems to be a classic. Miss Li and Miss Zheng are classmates, so they are very close. Naturally, compared with my classmates, I am lucky to get teacher Li's advice. The training scheme given to me by Miss Li and Miss Zheng is: starting with the operation and broadcasting. I remember I just started designing from a small current source. At that time, the sensory design was to adjust the parameters through simulation. But I will always remember the earnest words of Teacher Li: Operational amplifier is the foundation. Once the operational amplifier is designed, the rest will be easy to handle.

I didn't quite understand it then. My classmates' topics are all "high-end" things like AD/DA and PLL, but Miss Li and Miss Zheng asked me to make "original" modules. The only paper I have published in (solid state electronics) (domestic junk magazine) is rail-to-rail amplifier. I was very depressed in the process of doing it, and I envied my classmates' projects, but I felt that what Mr. Li and Mr. Zheng said always had their reasons, so I specially read the articles on operation and broadcasting, and basically read them for nearly 20 years. At that time, I thought I knew this very well, but later I found out that I didn't understand it after work. The so-called understanding is to achieve mastery through a comprehensive study, otherwise, no matter how much knowledge is crammed into your head, it is also dead. However, operational amplifier is the cornerstone of analog circuit, and only with a solid foundation can it flourish. Only through the efforts of two teachers can we understand. Generally speaking, in Fudan, what impressed me the most was Mr. Zheng's rigorous academic style and Mr. Li's words and deeds.

After my master's degree, I went to look for a job. At that time, there were several quotations. My brother guma, a close disciple of Miss Li, recommended me to go to Tao Xin University of Technology. He said that there was a doctor from Catholic University of Leuven named Chang Zhongyuan, who was very nice. I followed my brother's advice and went. Tao Xin was acquired by IDT for $85 million, becoming the first successful chip company in China. Howard interviewed me. C. Yang, the general manager of one of the founders of the company. Howard is a doctor at Oregon State University and an expert in PLL. During the interview, he asked me to draw a two-stage amplifier with Miller compensation. I am very skilled. He said you have a zero on your face. I'm surprised. I have never heard of it. It's in the fog. I later learned that this was first put forward by Howard in the world. There is a resistance in the equivalent model. He named it Young's resistor himself. I kept nodding out of courtesy. But they were still satisfied, so they went in. As for me, the only regret of the interview is that I didn't see Chang Zhongyuan. Maybe he is on a business trip.

After entering Tao Xin, I made up my mind to specialize in a certain major. Because undergraduate and graduate students like physics, mathematics and philosophy, they spend some energy on them. After work, you have to do it with a knife and a gun. Go to work every day to simulate and read English original books crazily after work. The first book was written by Lazavi, and it is very popular now. Read it three times. I feel very rewarding. At that time, in Tao Xin, newborn calves were not afraid of tigers. It should be said that he did a good job, so he was appreciated by Chang Zong and was rated as the most potential person in the company. Occasionally, I often come to give advice, and others are envious. In fact, I remember what I often learn from chatting. He said that analog circuit design has three realms: the first is that it can be calculated by hand, which means that the circuit actually has to be calculated by hand, and the simulation only proves the result of manual calculation. The second is to think after calculation and turn the circuit into an intuitive thing. The third is to create circuits.

I generally followed the trilogy. I calculated the exercises at the back of Lazavi's book carefully. In the company's project, I also tried to calculate the parameters of the amplifier by hand, and then compared with the simulation results. Over time, my hand calculation ability has been greatly improved, and the analysis and calculation of some small signals feel very comfortable. There is an episode here. Once in a project, the AC simulation of the protection circuit was always unstable, so it was always impossible to adjust. Capacitance is added here and resistance is added there. I tried it several times, but it didn't work, so I went to manager Chang. Because this circle is very big, it feels like a blind man touching an elephant. Always come over, three times, five times and two times. He looked at it carefully, then deduced a formula and found out the expressions of the main pole and bandwidth. Through this incident, I admire Chang and know the power of intuition. Therefore, when reading a book in the future, I will carefully deduce the formulas in the book, and then think about the signal flow intuitively, and I will not stop until I am intuitive. After more than a year, I finally have a thorough understanding of the amplifier, and I think I have learned it. After that, I found that I understood everything. Finally, it is concluded that the amplifier has two difficulties, one is frequency response, and the other is feedback. The so-called circuit intuition is actually thinking about the circuit from the perspective of feedback. Every time I analyze some "weird" circuits in books or JSSC, I will sigh: feedback, feedback! Then write the analysis results on paper. Learning a field first and then learning other related fields will have a certain "acceleration" effect.

Generally speaking, every time you do a new project, let the following people learn first. I made a PLL before I left Tao Xin. I haven't done it before, but later I got my classmates' master's thesis, books and many papers for research. After a month and a half, he often came to ask me: Do you understand the 3dB bandwidth of PLL? I smiled and replied: I have understood. My powerful knowledge of operational amplifier frequency response is used in PLL, which is a piece of cake. I have studied the deep phase noise and jitter. Soon after, an English research report of more than 30 pages was sent out and has been praised! .

Later, at the time of submission, there was a project to modify a RF transceiver chip from WCDMA to TD-SCDMA. There is a baseband analog filter. I have never touched filters before, so I spent two months reading three original English books. The first book has more than 900 pages and more than N papers, and all the filtering fields, switched capacitors, GmC and active RC are understood at once. When I put forward the modification scheme, because I have a solid operational amplifier foundation, it is easy to understand the filter signal flow when reading the article, so I can put forward the chip circuit principle analysis and modification scheme alone in a short time. Finally, I wrote a report (another masterpiece of mine) and sent it to TI. TI, this way. During the conference call, they first said that the report was "well done!" I don't understand English. Julian gave an exaggerated thumbs-up and said, "They speak highly of you." . Later, I went to Dallas and TI's place and respected us. When I gave the report, many people came to listen. In a word, we now know that the foundation is very important in everything. With a solid foundation, it is easy to learn from others, and the faster you learn.

I promised in June 2002 +065438+ 10, and it was my current boss Julian who interviewed me at that time. Julian asked me: Where do you think the design of SOC is? I said: it should be an analog circuit. This is more difficult. Julian was wrong. It's the system. I strongly disapproved at that time, and felt that analog circuit engineers should spend their energy on analyzing and designing circuits. Julian later ran by himself, and now this company, On-Bright, brought me here, and at the same time pulled two from TI, one of whom was Dr. Fang. As for me, I recommended Dr. Zhu to Julian. In the past year or two, Dr. Zhu and I have admired each other's doctors. Dr. Fang is a top expert among TI Chinese, and his ability to make products is super strong. On-Bright is now producing power chips. I have worked with Dr. Zhu for nearly two years and know the importance of the system. Chip design must eventually go to the system, which is the first four realms of chip design. Circuits such as bricks and tiles, systems such as buildings. Chip design engineers must consider the problem from the perspective of system, otherwise they will only see the trees but not the forest. In power chips, amplifiers and comparators are the most common, and the difficulty lies in a thorough understanding of the system. On-Bright, I really learned how to make products, from definition to debugging, to debugging, chip testing and system testing, and finally to RTP (release to production). Julian introduced TI's advanced product development process and project management methods into On-Bright. Dr. Zhu and I are eye-opening and know the hardships of making products.

Analog integrated circuit design, David John, Ken Martin, University of Toronto, John Willis, Inc. A CMOS classic book that must be read. Good circuit cookbook and circuit theory. The switched capacitor PLL part is very good, you must know it.

Microelectronic circuits (latest edition, 4th edition). Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith, Oxford, 1998 (University of Toronto). A very good book! This is for college students, easy to understand, good in summary and insightful in equation. Must-read books before the interview.

CMOS Analog Circuit Design, Phillip E. Allen and Douglas R. Holberg, published in 1987. A little old, but still worth reading. It has a newer version (2002? But I haven't found time to read.

Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuit, behzad razavi, McGraw-Hill, 200 1. Textbooks used in many schools. It helps you to understand many circuits, but it is too simple to be used in practical design. I should say this is a very good theory book. Not an engineering book. Anyway, it all started with Maxwell's equations, right?