Integrated Circuit Design (known as IC design) is a process in computer and electrical engineering in which the engineer designs an integrated circuit. ICs are made up of electronic components that are incredibly small. These components are built into a network on a monolithic semiconductor substrate. The process by which these components are built onto the substrate is through a process known as photolithography which is a process in which parts of a thin film are removed.
The type of IC design can be broken up into two separate categories. The first is digital IC design and the second is analog IC design.
Digital IC Design
Digital IC design is a very complex type of design that is used in the creation of components such as microprocessors, different types of memory (RAM, ROM, Flash), digital ASICs, and FPGAs. The primary focus for an individual that is using digital IC design is on three things. The first is logical correctness. The second is circuit density. The more that can be added to a single circuit, the stronger the chip is going to be. The final thing that an engineer looks at is the placement of the circuits so that the clock and timing systems are as efficient as possible.
Analog IC Design
Analog IC design is a more basic type of design used to create op-amps, oscillators, active fillers, phase locked loops and liner regulators. Unlike digital IC design which is focused on fitting the most into the circuit as possible, analog IC design focuses on the physics of the semiconductor. The big things a designer pays attention to is the gain, matching, power dissipation and resistance of the semiconductor. Typically, an analog IC design uses a much larger area that a digital IC design. More so, they are typically less dense than digital IC designs because they are not about packing as much circuitry in.
In the end, despite what type of design – digital or analog – is being used is irrelevant. The process is the same. A computer engineer is trying to create electrical components on a piece of semiconductor such as silicon.
