Analog ICs still alive and kicking!

Ten years ago when I became the analog ICs editor for Electronic Products, I would come across articles saying that analog ICs were dying and that the future will be digital. Maybe it was the digital folks just kidding spreading this rumor, but we all know that there is no way an amplifier will become digital. Many consumer electronic devices such as cell phones, PDAs, 3D TVs, and e-readers, to name a few would not be able to exist without analog ICs. We do see, however, digital circuitry being added to traditional analog parts such as power management ICs and an increasing amount of analog functionality being added to microprocessors and DSPs. These types of parts are mixed-signal ICs.

Analog ICs perform amplification, mixing, active filtering, demodulation, and much more. The days of building an analog circuit has been over for a while now, thanks to analog ICs. The only problem that I see with the future of analog ICs is the lack of analog talent in the U.S. and overseas. It began when colleges started to include more courses related to digital design, and even laboratory classes became digitally focused. The reason is that EE students preferred digital design and software development courses over analog, because that is where the perceived need was and therefore the money.

Analog, the gateway to the real world, is obviously not going away. If colleges don’t offer a wide range of courses related to analog, one way to keep up with it is by attending technical conferences. Interesting technical papers, seminars, and panels can be found by attending IEEE’s annual ISSCC and MTTS conferences. I find the papers sometimes too technical (a physics major might appreciate them more than an engineer), but what I gain from them is an understanding of where vital technology is heading.

Christina Nickolas