Bipolar transistors simultaneously use holes and electrons to conduct, hence their name (from “two polarities”). Like FETs, bipolar transistors contain p- and n-type materials configured in input, middle, and output regions. In bipolar transistors, however, these regions are referred to as the emitter, the base, and the collector. Instead of relying, as FETs do, on a secondary voltage source to change the polarity beneath the gate (the field effect), bipolar transistors use a secondary voltage source to provide enough energy for electrons to punch through the reverse-biased base-collector junction. As the electrons are energized, they jump into the collector and complete the circuit. Note that even with highly energetic electrons, the middle section of p-type material must be extremely thin for the electrons to pass through both junctions.

A bipolar base region can be fabricated that is much smaller than any CMOS transistor gate. This smaller size enables bipolar transistors to operate much faster than CMOS transistors. Bipolar transistors are typically used in applications where speed is very important, such as in radio-frequency ICs. On the other hand, although bipolar transistors are faster, FETs use less current. The type of switch a designer selects depends on which benefits are more important for the application: speed or power savings. This is one of many trade-off decisions engineers make in designing their circuits.

Analog design

As mentioned earlier, an analog circuit takes an infinitely variable real-world voltage or current and modifies it in some useful way. The signal might be amplified, compared with another signal, mixed with other signals, separated from other signals, examined for value, or otherwise manipulated. For the design of this type of circuit, the choice of every individual component, size, placement, and connection is crucial. Unique decisions abound—for instance, whether one connection should be slightly wider than another connection, whether one resistor should be oriented parallel or perpendicular to another, or whether one wire can lie over the top of another. Every small detail affects the final performance of the end product.

When integrated circuits were much simpler, component values could be calculated by hand. For instance, a specific amplification value (gain) of an amplifier could typically be calculated from the ratio of two specific resistors. The current in the circuit could then be determined, using the resistor value required for the amplifier gain and the supply voltage used. As designs became more complex, laboratory measurements were used to characterize the devices. Engineers drew graphs of device characteristics across several variables and then referred to those graphs as they needed information for their calculations. As scientists improved their characterization of the intricate physics of each device, they developed complex equations that took into account subtle effects that were not apparent from coarse laboratory measurements. For example, a transistor works very differently at different frequencies, sizes, orientations, and placements. In particular, scientists found parasitic components (unwanted effects, usually resistance and capacitance) that are inherent in the way the devices are built. Parasitics become more problematic as the circuitry becomes more sophisticated and smaller and as it runs at higher frequencies.

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computer: Integrated circuits

Although parasitic components in a circuit can now be accounted for by sophisticated equations, such calculations are very time-consuming to do by hand. For this work computers have become indispensable. In particular, a public-domain circuit-analysis program developed at the University of California, Berkeley, during the 1970s, SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis), and various proprietary models designed for use with it are ubiquitous in engineering courses and in industry for analog circuit design. SPICE has equations for transistors, capacitors, resistors, and other components, as well as for lengths of wires and for turns in wires, and it can reduce the calculation of circuit interactions to hours from the months formerly required for hand calculations.

Digital design

Since digital circuits involve millions of times as many components as analog circuits, much of the design work is done by copying and reusing the same circuit functions, especially by using digital design software that contains libraries of prestructured circuit components. The components available in such a library are of similar height, contain contact points in predefined locations, and have other rigid conformities so that they fit together regardless of how the computer configures a layout. While SPICE is perfectly adequate for analyzing analog circuits, with equations that describe individual components, the complexity of digital circuits requires a less-detailed approach. Therefore, digital analysis software ignores individual components for mathematical models of entire preconfigured circuit blocks (or logic functions).

Whether analog or digital circuitry is used depends on the function of a circuit. The design and layout of analog circuits are more demanding of teamwork, time, innovation, and experience, particularly as circuit frequencies get higher, though skilled digital designers and layout engineers can be of great benefit in overseeing an automated process as well. Digital design emphasizes different skills from analog design.

Mixed-signal design

For designs that contain both analog and digital circuitry (mixed-signal chips), standard analog and digital simulators are not sufficient. Instead, special behavioral simulators are used, employing the same simplifying idea behind digital simulators to model entire circuits rather than individual transistors. Behavioral simulators are designed primarily to speed up simulations of the analog side of a mixed-signal chip.

The difficulty with behavioral simulation is making sure that the model of the analog circuit function is accurate. Since each analog circuit is unique, it seems as though one must design the system twice—once to design the circuitry and once to design the model for the simulator.