You may have heard that using ASICs instead of off-the-shelf ICs involves high initial costs due to non-recurring engineering (NRE) expenses and longer development time. Or that custom ASICs could become obsolete quickly with rapid technological and market changes, making it hard to see a return on investment (ROI). Some people think custom ASICs lack flexibility because changes or updates can be difficult and expensive, unlike the more adaptable off-the-shelf ICs.

There’s also the idea that custom ASICs are only cost-effective at high volumes, making them too expensive for smaller projects. Then there’s the design process, which can seem daunting, requiring specialized knowledge and potentially more staff or outsourcing. Supply chain risks are another purported worry, the idea being that relying on a single supplier for your custom ASIC can introduce vulnerabilities.

Plus, it’s said that the technical challenges of designing and verifying a custom ASIC can lead to delays and extra costs. Finally, you might be concerned about becoming too dependent on your ASIC supplier for support, updates and production, which could be risky if the supplier faces issues or changes priorities.

For the most part these concerns are unfounded. As outlined below, full custom analog ASICs actually offer significant cost efficiency and design flexibility, making them a great option even for low to medium volumes.

1. Cost efficiency, even for lower volumes

When considering custom analog ASICs, you might think they only reduce costs for high production volumes. However, this isn’t the case. Unlike standard ICs, which become even more expensive for small batches, some analog ASIC suppliers have unique business models that minimize the low-volume cost effect. They do this by sharing costs openly with customers and maintaining low gross profit margins to support smaller businesses and startups.

Additionally, some companies offer rebates on NRE costs over the product’s lifetime, making the initial investment more manageable—although this strategy works best for large volumes. If you’re worried about the upfront commitment, some suppliers offer extended NRE payment plans, allowing you to amortize these costs over a period that is typically twice the engineering development time, provided you have a good credit rating.

This approach ensures you can benefit from cost savings once the ASIC is integrated and shipping.

2. Tailored precision and efficiency

When you choose custom analog ASICs, you benefit from solutions tailored to your specific applications, ensuring they perform exactly as needed without unnecessary features. Unlike general-purpose ICs, these custom ASICs are designed to save on the size of your design, reducing die size and thus lowering the cost per die. Leading analog ASIC suppliers design at the transistor level rather than relying on predefined cells, allowing for more precise and cost-effective solutions.

Although older design techniques like tile arrays and cell libraries can streamline the process, they often require compromises. These methods may reduce development time and costs, but they limit the selection available for creating your ASIC, potentially forcing you to settle for components that are merely close to your needs rather than exactly meeting them.

By focusing on custom solutions, you ensure that every element of your circuit design is tailored exactly to your specifications, maximizing performance and efficiency.

3. Maximizing space and efficiency

By opting for custom analog ASICs, you can significantly reduce the size of your end product. These custom ASICs integrate multiple functions into a single chip, eliminating the need for numerous discrete components. This integration is particularly beneficial for compact form factors, such as medical devices, where space is at a premium.

Additionally, the incorporation of passive components within the ASIC itself minimizes the need for external resistors and capacitors, further shrinking the design’s footprint. This streamlined approach not only conserves space but also enhances the efficiency and functionality of your products.

4. Optimizing performance and power efficiency

To enhance the performance of your applications, custom analog ASICs are designed specifically for the tasks they need to perform, ensuring optimal performance without unnecessary features. This optimization means better performance compared to off-the-shelf ICs, which might not fully align with your specific needs.

Additionally, custom analog ASICs enable power optimization, significantly reducing overall power consumption. This is particularly critical for applications powered by coin cell batteries, where maintaining performance as the battery depletes adds a layer of complexity. By focusing on these aspects, you ensure your applications are not only efficient but also reliable over time.

5. Noise reduction

By using custom analog ASICs, you can significantly reduce noise and interference, thus improving the overall performance of sensitive analog applications. Custom ASICs are designed with optimized layouts to minimize noise, a critical factor since small analog signals are more susceptible to interference compared to digital signals. Engineers go to great lengths to eliminate or cancel noise in systems where sensor calibration and signal conditioning are involved.

Additionally, custom ASICs provide integrated shielding, which prevents the creation of microscopic antennas when analog signals pass between ICs. In traditional setups, these signals travel through multiple connections, each adding potential noise or reflections that can distort signal integrity.

However, by integrating the amplifier and A/D functions into the same ASIC chip, you eliminate these troublesome connections, ensuring a cleaner and more reliable signal. This results in a significant enhancement in the performance of your analog systems.

6. Improved reliability

The mean time between failures (MTBF) is a key reliability measure that predicts the average time between system failures. Since MTBF is heavily influenced by the number of components, analog ASICs, with their series configuration of input, manipulation and output, enhance reliability by minimizing component count.

In a series system, the failure of any single component can lead to system failure, making the overall MTBF lower than that of individual components. By reducing the number of components, you decrease the likelihood of failure. Additionally, analog ASICs undergo rigorous testing during development, ensuring a higher level of reliability in the final product. This robust testing process helps guarantee that your systems perform reliably over time.

7. IP protection

When you introduce a new product to the market, you inadvertently share your design with competitors who are eager to learn from and surpass your innovation. However, by using custom ASICs, you can significantly protect your intellectual property (IP). Unlike standard ICs, which enable easy replication of your product, custom ASICs lack publicly available datasheets, making it much harder for competitors to access and reverse-engineer your proprietary ideas.

Embedding your unique designs into an ASIC chip delays competitors from catching up, giving you time to establish your product as a dominant player in the industry. While competition stimulates innovation, using custom ASICs allows you to stay ahead longer, safeguarding your advancements and maintaining a competitive edge.

8. Long-term supply stability

This problem is bigger than you may think. Companies that produce standard off-the-shelf analog ICs are typically large multi-hundred-million-dollar organizations driven solely by profits. They routinely go through a product pruning process in which every single part they produce is examined on its own merits of profit contribution, considering profit per unit sold and total gross margin dollar contribution from the aggregation of all sales worldwide.

A standard IC product might be available in several different temperature ranges (commercial, industrial, military, automotive, space) and in a dozen or more different package styles, creating a logistics nightmare for forecasting, production, testing, and inventorying. With little or no regard for the customers dependent upon this item, it’s very easy to decide to obsolete it when resources are better applied to newer ICs.

As the sole customer of a custom ASIC, you have more control over the production schedule, reducing the risk of obsolescence compared to relying on off-the-shelf ICs that may be discontinued by manufacturers. You purchase your analog ASIC in one temperature grade and only in one package configuration, requiring only one style of automatic handler at final test, lowering the carrying costs for your supplier.

9. Lower system costs

When you integrate multiple functions into a single custom ASIC, you can significantly reduce system-level costs. To accurately assess the ROI for your new analog ASIC, involve your purchasing and manufacturing teams in calculating potential savings, including those related to purchasing, inventory, and manufacturing.

For instance, if the new ASIC replaces 25 components such as ICs, resistors, capacitors and diodes, ask your purchasing department about the costs associated with issuing purchase orders for these components. Consider any delivery or quality issues with current vendors that could cause delays or require replacements. Simplified assembly is another benefit, as fewer components lead to easier assembly processes and reduced labor costs.

Consult with your manufacturing team to understand how the new PCB will look with the ASIC. You may find that eliminating the 25 components reduces the PCB size, the number of layers needed, and the number of pick-and-place steps required at assembly, resulting in further cost savings. There are obvious but often overlooked savings associated with using an ASIC.

10. Enhanced functionality

Engaging with a team of skilled analog ASIC designers can significantly enhance the functionality of your products. Custom features tailored to your specific needs can lead to innovative solutions and improvements that propel your product to the forefront of the market. By collaborating with expert analog designers, you might discover new ways to accomplish tasks efficiently, with IP securely embedded in the ASIC, preventing competitors from replicating it.

Furthermore, the custom nature of your analog ASIC ensures that performance metrics are precisely aligned with your requirements, as every transistor is carefully selected to perform its specific function. This meticulous customization results in better performance and efficiency, making your product stand out.

11. Shorter development cycles

Using analog ASICs offers the benefit of shorter development cycles. By conducting a feasibility study, you can identify and mitigate design risks early on, ensuring that potential issues are addressed before they become problematic. This study, typically lasting 5-7 weeks, provides a deep dive into challenging design aspects, offering solutions to avoid or resolve conflicts in requirements.

Additionally, analog ASICs enable rapid prototyping through advanced design techniques like multi-chip modules, which help verify specific requirements in silicon that current modeling techniques cannot assure. Furthermore, the development process becomes more efficient, enabling quicker iterations and fostering innovative solutions and improvements. This leads to a more streamlined and effective development cycle, ultimately enhancing the performance and reliability of your products.

12. Tailored support and transparent collaboration

When you choose custom analog ASICs, you benefit from tailored support and a collaborative relationship with your supplier. Custom analog ASIC companies work closely with you to understand your specific needs, providing dedicated support throughout the process. Privately owned companies, free from the constraints of large corporate governance and demands for continuous growth and profitability, offer greater flexibility and compatibility.

These private companies can take decisive actions quickly, ensuring that your needs are met promptly. They are also more transparent, openly sharing financial information such as costs and profit margins and allowing direct engineer-to-engineer communication rather than routing everything through project managers—the proverbial “gate keepers.”

This transparency includes sharing yield information, acknowledging problems openly, and proactively lowering prices when yields improve and costs decrease. The ultimate goal of a custom ASIC company is to foster a relationship where you feel like part of a family, striving every day to ensure your satisfaction and success.

Custom ASICs reality check

Choosing custom analog ASICs over off-the-shelf ICs offers unparalleled benefits across multiple dimensions. From significant cost savings and optimized performance to enhanced reliability and robust IP protection, custom ASICs deliver tailored solutions that precisely meet your application needs. Their ability to integrate multiple functions into a single chip reduces system size and complexity while ensuring superior noise reduction and power efficiency.

Moreover, the dedicated support and close collaboration offered by custom ASIC suppliers, particularly those that are privately owned, ensure a flexible and transparent partnership, fostering innovation and rapid development cycles. These companies not only prioritize your technical requirements but also strive to make you feel like part of their family; they are committed to your success every step of the way.

In a landscape where precision, reliability, and competitive advantage are crucial, custom analog ASICs stand out as the superior choice for driving excellence and achieving long-term success in your industry.

By: DocMemory
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