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Why Is Analog Design Harder Than Digital Design?

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Are you an analog design engineer or digital? By most standards, the marketplace is producing more digital design engineers than analog. Ask most engineers and they would tell you why: analog design is harder than digital, and requires more knowledge and more factors to consider such as a deep understanding of efficient power, precision measurement, wireless connectivity, and reliable circuit protection. What  do you think?

 

Let's talk about that a bit more. Is analog design just a matter of knowledge, or is there something more involved? It likely boils down to that fact that analog design involves more than just analog. It's influenced by circuit theory, signal processing, control systems, and device physics, and more. When you consider that circuits and components are more integrated and operated at ultra low power, one needs to consider both pow power, low noise, and stability over the required temperature range.

 

What's analog design require? Efficient power ICs to extend the lifetime and reduce heat dissipation for your design. Precision measurement ICs to feature high accuracy and high performance for across-the-board precision analog applications. Rugged connectivity to offer the industry’s highest level of protection for connectivity in hazardous environments. Reliable protection ICs to protect systems from faults by maintaining and monitoring proper voltage, current, and temperature levels.

 

For sure, analog design has always been more complicated than digital design. While both require the engineer to make design compromises, analog beats digital design in the arena of complexity. All the variables involved just make it nothing but hard.

 

I've told you what I think. How about you?

 

Why do you think analog design is more difficult than digital design? If you have an example, share it with the element14 community?

 

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  • Analogue design often requires a nuanced optimisation process, the process requires an intuitive level of knowledge, where the process has become as much an art as a clear design process.  Even when the engineer has achieved a high level of ability and knowledge it is still often necessary to build multiple prototypes in order to fully optimise the design.  I design discrete op-amps my latest one is a 'tail current adjustment amplifier' which is a new concept.  I am very aware that although I now have a fully developed circuit, it could be unity gain unstable if it's converted to an IC, and the input transistors are of critical importance to achieve the correct noise performance, so a manufacturer would need to be able to garrantee this.  The design itself has gone through approximately 10 different designs, I have also had to design and build my own test equipment to measure noise and distortion.  So yes there are many difficulties with analogue design, however I think if I was to attempt to design complex digital circuits from the transistor level, this is likely to be just as difficult as you are often pushing the technology to its limits of speed and power consumption.

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  • Analogue design often requires a nuanced optimisation process, the process requires an intuitive level of knowledge, where the process has become as much an art as a clear design process.  Even when the engineer has achieved a high level of ability and knowledge it is still often necessary to build multiple prototypes in order to fully optimise the design.  I design discrete op-amps my latest one is a 'tail current adjustment amplifier' which is a new concept.  I am very aware that although I now have a fully developed circuit, it could be unity gain unstable if it's converted to an IC, and the input transistors are of critical importance to achieve the correct noise performance, so a manufacturer would need to be able to garrantee this.  The design itself has gone through approximately 10 different designs, I have also had to design and build my own test equipment to measure noise and distortion.  So yes there are many difficulties with analogue design, however I think if I was to attempt to design complex digital circuits from the transistor level, this is likely to be just as difficult as you are often pushing the technology to its limits of speed and power consumption.

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