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"The World of LSI Design"

We are constantly surrounded by various electronic equipment which, for the most part, makes use of some sort of LSI whose functions are diverse.

The information encoding method in analog and digital circuits is different. Both types of circuits may first seem completely different, but because digital circuits actually operate by saturating analog circuits, they can be viewed as analog circuits.

Therefore, it is necessary to possess knowledge and technology of analog circuits when dealing with digital circuits.

In particular, a common recent issue is that digital circuits that perform high-frequency and high-speed operations cause other components to malfunction, or directly suffer malfunctions from other components. In order to solve these types of problems, it is a fact that it is essential to possess knowledge and technology of analog circuits.

"The Real Pleasure of Analog Circuit Design"

Current electronic devices, including semiconductors, have been developed with the rapid progress made in digital technology during the past 30 years.

The processing performance of the supercomputers of that time can now be achieved on smart phones. Advances in digital technology play a major role, but analog technology is also progressing at a rapid pace in the background. In other words, without advancement in analog technology, I believe that development in digital technology is stunted.

In the world of LSI design, when compared with digital circuits, analog circuits possess several sensitive characteristics: resistance to voltage, noise, low voltage, high frequency, etc. This fact has remained unchanged for the last 30 years and will also probably remain unchanged.

The progress of digital technology may be responsible for the drastic decrease in the number of analog design engineers. When compared with digital circuits, analog circuits are more difficult to design and require superior skills. When compared with digital circuit design, the automation of analog circuit design has not progressed. This may have to do with the decrease in the number of analog engineers.

I think this is extremely regrettable.

However, in order for digital circuits to exchange information with the real world, it is necessary to have an analog interface within which sensing technology plays an especially important role. Sensing technology is supported by semiconductor circuits. There is no doubt that advanced analog circuits and layout design technology are especially important.

For this reason, although design is not an easy task, a great sense of accomplishment comes from solving analog design problems.

In order to solve such difficulties, we must actively acquire skills.

"IoT Market and Sensor Technology"

I believe you are already aware that expectations for the IoT are growing quickly in the electronics industry.

In order to interconnect things using IoT, it is essential to use LSI that makes full use of high-performance analog circuit technology such as sensor and communication functions.

For example, according to the White Paper on Information and Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, by 2020, 53 billion devices are expected to be connected to the Internet throughout the world. If a single thing is equipped with four or five sensors, the total number of sensors will amount to 2.5 trillion.

In order to get there, the analog technology I mentioned earlier is indispensable. For example, there are various kinds of image sensor elements, temperature sensors, flow sensors, etc., but in recent years, the use of image sensor elements used as sensors has become more famous. Although CMOS image sensors are key components in image sensor elements, advanced analog circuit design technology and analog layout design technology are also required.

High-speed data processing, extensive video data processing and transmission, low voltage and high-speed A/D conversion, high efficiency amplifier, high-speed I/F, etc. These are some of the fields in which we can demonstrate the analog technology we possess.

"Our Mission"

As I mentioned earlier, the widespread implementation of the IoT will have a great influence on the society in the future. LSI is the key to the widespread implementation of the IoT. In order to interconnect things, LSI is absolutely necessary, and in order to achieve this interconnection, the use of various sensors is indispensable.

Sensors are basically the entry point of analog information. Analog circuit technology is very important in LSI design.

In recent years, the size and complexity of analog as well as digital LSI circuits are increasing at a similar rate. This is why I believe that we need to become a strong company that always endeavors to acquire the latest analog circuit and layout design technology.

I believe that our mission is to make maximum use of our analog circuit design technology, capture the IoT market through concerted efforts, and contribute to customers and society.