On September 28, 2021, the 3rd China Analog Semiconductor Conference 2021 was successfully held in Shenzhen, China, hosted by the world's famous electronic technology media < Electronics Enthusiast >. Leaders and industry experts from Huada Jiutian, Chipsea Technology, Yusheng Electronics, Changwork Micro, Jinghua Micro, Meixin Semiconductor and other well-known enterprises brought wonderful sharing.

Analog semiconductor technology requires higher experience accumulation of talents. Zhang Yinghui, general manager of electronic enthusiast, said in his speech that the development time of international analog semiconductor technology is far earlier than that of Chinese semiconductor companies. After more than half a century of accumulation, they have more advantages in talent cultivation and technology accumulation. Domestic analog semiconductor companies have encountered the challenge of talent training and product innovation, and it is not easy for enterprises to grow.

• Photo: Zhang Yinghui, general manager of Electronic Enthusiast

However, with the establishment of the science and technology innovation board and the support of policies, many excellent analog semiconductor companies successfully IPO and gain reverse attack. The China Analog Semiconductor Conference for electronic enthusiasts has been held for the third time. In the past, many companies have been known by science and technology capital and successfully obtained financing by participating in the China Analog Conference. There are also enterprises whose chips are approved by engineers and designed for use in more products.

Huada Jiutian Liang Yan: Full process tools help power management chip design methodology innovation

As a software system widely used in the entire IC industry chain, EDA directly affects the chip performance, quality, production efficiency and cost. It can be said that there is no IC industry without EDA. Applications such as mobile communication, IoT and automotive not only bring strong demand for power management chips, but also bring challenges such as integration and high efficiency. Liang Yan, senior project manager of Huada Jiutian, shared how Huada Jiutian, as a one-stop EDA and related service provider, tackles these challenges with full-process tools.

Photo: Liang Yan, senior project Manager of Huada Nine Days

Huadian's Empyrean Aether provides an efficient chip design and analysis platform with interfaces such as EDIF, SPICE and GDS to facilitate the smooth transfer of design processes. Its process model and PDK customization capabilities support the innovation of design methods. The high-speed and high-precision simulation verification tool Empyrean ALPS has a rich simulation product line to meet users' diverse needs in accuracy and speed, and solves the convergence problem of high-voltage models according to the self-developed SMS Plus engine. Empyrean Argus is an adaptive layout analysis and verification tool launched by BUDA nine days ago. Its functions cover applications such as DRC inspection, LVS inspection and Mask preparation. At present, it has obtained the certification of OEM and passed a large number of tape out verification. In the early stage of layout design, parasitic parameters can be obtained to eliminate the influence of parasitic problems. For this purpose, Huadian Jiutian has launched a parasitic parameter extraction tool Empyrean RCExplorer, which can complete 3D/2.5D parasitic parameter extraction and meet the requirements of process development and post-simulation applications. The layout reliability analysis tool Empyrean Polas can analyze on-resistance, EM/IR-drop and Gate On/off delay with high accuracy, and help users calculate and predict parameters such as power loss and dead time to guide layout optimization.

Xinhai Wang Wei: Sensing the world focused on signal chain technology innovation

Sensing and interaction have always been the core of changes in smart devices, and it is expected that the proportion of terminals with sensing interaction will reach 55% in 2021. The signal chain is the basis for accurate perception and interaction. According to the statistics of foreign institutions, the demand for signal chain reaches $12 billion in 2023, but it is almost monopolized by foreign brands such as TI. Facing this huge space and significant gap in the analog chain market, Weiwang, marketing manager of Chipsea Technology, shared how Chipsea technology is innovating in signal chain technology.

• Wang Wei, marketing manager of Chipsea

With the continuous changes in the market and technology, analog signal chain today faces three major challenges. The rise of smart wearable devices has reduced the size of products, but the number of sensors is still gradually increasing. Secondly, sensor signals such as gas, pressure, and current also cause difficulties in the design of the signal chain. Finally, different measurement accuracy and speed put forward different requirements. Taking electrochemical signal measurement as an example, in the traditional circuit structure, the peripheral circuit of multiple devices not only increases the volume, but also affects the production consistency. The signal chain MCU of Core Sea eliminates the peripheral circuit and achieves integration. In the discrete-time sampling ADC for traditional photoelectric signal measurement, the switched capacitor charge will bounce back to the sensor. To solve this problem, Chipsea designed a CTSD ADC, which uses a resistive input to reduce the amplifier requirements and make it easier to achieve high operating frequency. ADC technology can be divided into two categories, which are based on super-sampling and Nyquist frequency respectively, and can also be divided into SAR, SDM, SLOPE and other sub-categories. Such a large number of classifications also proves that no ADC is perfect. ADC design is a balancing act, making trade-offs in terms of resolution, speed, and power consumption. However, Chipsea's ADC design continues to pursue better FoM, achieve lower power consumption, higher speed and SNDR, and achieve higher cost performance. As one of the few companies covering ADC and MCU in China, Chipsea will focus on the industrial and automotive fields in the future.

Chen Wenyan, Yu Sheng Electronics: Application and future trend of high power amplifier

At the meeting, Chen Wenyan, senior manager of Yu Sheng Electronics, gave a keynote speech on the Application and Future Trend of high-power Power Amplifier. High-power power amplifiers are mainly used in Bluetooth speakers, pull bar speakers, soundbars, smart speakers, flat-screen TVS, PA and other consumer scenarios. In addition, there are power amplifiers for rear loading vehicles, electronic organ metronome, etc.

• Figure: Chen Wenyan, senior manager of Yu Sheng Electronics

Different applications have different design considerations. Take flat panel TV as an example, due to the image and other functions, the TV system as a whole is more complex. Chen Wenyan mentioned that the power of flat panel TV is not the bigger the better, flat panel TV in the innate physical has limited the sound, if do high power but will appear sound quality turbidity, broken sound situation. Therefore, the tablet computer should not only meet the specifications but also consider that it should not resonate with the cavity when playing. Once the resonance occurs, it will cancel the power and also cause noise. The power of each channel of flat panel TV is about 10w below. In the design, the balance between power and quality is mainly focused on. If you want to achieve high power output, it is generally used with Soundbar.

Chen Wenyan believes that the high-power amplifier in the field of speakers will develop in the following three directions: sound quality requirements, high-order digital models, increasing system complexity. The market of high-power power amplifier is ushering in a new development trend, but also brings technical challenges. First, the demand for high-power power amplifier chips is growing, and the power demand and quality of the system power supply are also more stringent. Second, the proportion of digital audio source interface increases; The third is to simplify the system design, such as with spread frequency design to reduce EMI, provide multi-channel power amplifier chip parallel ability. In view of the trend and challenge of high-power power amplifier, Yusheng Electronics launched a response to the products and solutions, including high-power speaker class D power amplifier chip, as well as high-power speaker overall power amplifier/power supply solutions. Chen Wenyan introduced that the high-power speaker D class power amplifier chip can do 30Wx2 stereo, and connected to a single channel of 60W, or 50Wx2 stereo, and connected to a single channel of 80W. For example, Class D audio amplifier VA2218 can realize 30Wx2 stereo, suitable for Bluetooth speakers, TV and other products. In the future, VA2239 and VA2218 will be upgraded and modified to facilitate customers 'later design. VA2260 and VA2261 related products are expected to be launched in the first half of 2022.

Innovision Semiconductor Inc. Feng Bo: CPU high current polyphase power supply solution

At the meeting, Innovision Semiconductor Inc.Feng Bo brought the theme of "CPU high-current polyphase power solution" to share. Feng Bo said that the growth of server demand has increased the current requirement of CPU. In 2020, the global server shipments reached 12 million units, and the demand for cloud computing, data center and AI servers has grown rapidly. The current of CPU and DPU is as high as 1000A, and the current localization rate of high-current polyphase power supply chip is zero.

• Photo: Innovision Semiconductor Inc. Marketing Director Feng Bo

Single-phase cannot meet the server's demand for high current, for example, the server needs to achieve 200-500A power supply, and needs a 6-phase controller to achieve. Feng Bo further explained why it needs a multi-phase power supply solution, because the multi-phase can meet the increasing demand for current of the CPU load, such as the Intel server CPU load current. The earliest maximum current required was 228A, which was later raised to 395A and then 452A, which necessitated an eight-phase current solution.

Multiphase power supply chips have many advantages, including adaptability to the increasing demand of heavy load applications. Output voltage ripple can be reduced; The volume and height of the sputtering red inductor; Reduce input capacitance, etc. Of course, there are also design difficulties, such as CPU voltage control accuracy and stability requirements are extremely high; High speed and complex communication with CPU. Changwork micro focuses on providing high-current power supply solutions, in this conference, Feng Bo introduced the new eight-phase power solution IS6201A launched by Changwork Micro this month, the solution supports the communication protocol of many cpus, including all domestic cpus, the switching frequency of the chip micro 2MHz, with all protection functions, built-in MTP, You can burn and store different programs multiple times.

According to Feng Bo, IS6201A can be combined with IS6806A, IS6810A and IS6807A for different scenarios, with different characteristics, such as IS6201A+IS6806A for server CPU, DDR 60-300A high-current applications, with high efficiency; IS6201A+IS6810A is suitable for server CPU, DDR 60-300A high-current application, the solution area is small, can be made into a module; IS6201A+IS6807A is suitable for desktop, notebook CPU 30-200A high current application, support high voltage 20V input, light load and high efficiency.

Highlights of the conference site