Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits for Low Power, Battery Driven Applications

In this paper we discuss the state of the art for low power mixed-signal integrated circuit design. Important considerations in designing a high performance solution for a battery powered application include the overall system power consumption, choice of analog or digital implementation, appreciation of the efficiency of alternative system architectures. Also the optimized implementation of various circuit blocks is considered.

Applications ranging from heart pacemakers to watch circuits are used as examples to illustrate different design techniques which are important in an overall integrated solution.