Domestic analog IC design is difficult

"Analog circuits are more like an art." This was taught by Professor Tong Shibai, the author of the transistor circuit, the first semiconductor circuit textbook in China. However, at home, this "art" is facing the dilemma of "falling off." Some experts mentioned that the number of analog circuit R&D companies in China's IC design industry decreased significantly from 146 to 68 in 2012. Although this figure is not necessarily accurate due to the reasons for data collection channels, the “miscommunication” of domestic analog IC manufacturers is also evident. In sharp contrast to this figure, the revenue of the global analog IC market in 2013 is expected to exceed US$50 billion with a growth rate of 12.6%. In addition, the analog IC is also a high-margin business. The United States Linear Technology Corporation reportedly has a profit margin of 70%.

Why domestic analog IC design industry will be so lonely?

Analog IC development requires more than just capital, equipment, and tools. What's more, it requires masters who can understand the analog world.

Although it is normal for companies to be affected by market changes, how can domestic analog IC manufacturers become “passers”? According to Luo Minjian, deputy general manager of Wuhan Liyuan Information Technology Co., Ltd., a well-known domestic distributor, there are several reasons for the change in the number of analog IC manufacturers: First, they were acquired by foreign semiconductor companies. The second is that it has been left to die due to poor management. Third, due to changes in market demand, the original product line has not been sufficient to support the company's operations, and thus embarked on the road to transformation. For example, some companies originally undertook a project in the country. Due to the limited capacity of their market space, they could not face global competition. After the project was over, the company became a smoker.

Compared with some domestic analog IC vendors, foreign analog companies such as TI, ADI, and Maxim have become “high-spirited”, and even TI and other vendors have abandoned some of their digital IC businesses and switched to analog ICs such as sensors. This reflects the dilemma of the domestic semiconductor industry.

According to Gu Wenjun, a senior analyst at iSuppli, analog ICs are mainly based on the combination of technology and technology. In particular, they require process support. The bottlenecks of domestic analog companies are: First, they are not like digital IC products because of the emergence of standard Foundry. The threshold of design is reduced, and the professional analog Foundry is very few. Most of the simulated processes and technologies are concentrated in the IDM company. Therefore, the domestic analog design company lacks the support of the foundry and lacks support for the process and other aspects. Second, the analog IC is not a standard process, and the design threshold is relatively high. The requirement for designers, especially the experience, is very high. However, the shortage of domestic talents still requires accumulation.

In the days when IC profits are getting lower and IC design and manufacturing tools are being updated faster and faster, analog ICs not only maintain high profit margins, but also have a long life cycle in their manufacturing processes. At present, 8-inch wafers have become mainstream. Tang Xiaoquan, an expert in the semiconductor industry, mentioned that Linear Technology, the leader in analog ICs that has maintained 70% of its gross margins for many years, still uses 6-inch wafers, and it takes 10 years to use 6-inch wafer lines that have been used for more than 10 years. the above. "The success of Linear Technology shows that the development of analog ICs not only requires funds, equipment and tools, but also requires masters who can understand the analog world." Tang Xiaoquan stressed.

Nothing is ruleless

Domestic enterprises need to compete in the global market if they want to develop in the long term, because foreign semiconductor manufacturers are also constantly localizing, and the local advantages formed by the reasons for closure cannot last long.

While some analog IC manufacturers in China have become “past-time”, other analog manufacturers have staged a “contrarian growth” story. Their product lines are relatively complete and their strength is strong. Products are no longer synonymous with low-end, but high-frequency, low-power, high-performance "hard currency" that can replace foreign semiconductor products. Foreign analog manufacturers feel the pressure. In this respect, FAE Engineer Lu Yang of Beijing Shengbang Microelectronics Co., Ltd. mentioned to the reporter of “China Electronics News” that domestic analog IC products are mainly concentrated in products that foreign companies have already developed but are still in the blank in China, filling Blankness is both a foothold and an imperative. Products such as high-precision op amps and low quiescent current op amps developed by Shengbang Micro have caused a large impact on foreign manufacturers.

The so-called "is the use of impermanence Road, the degree of nonsense, dynamic and static flexion and extension, only change the appropriate." Scale of more than 500 billion US dollars in the analog IC market is still urgently needed domestic semiconductor manufacturers to play their own "notes", the market is still unceasing Changes actually have a lot to offer.

“In the future, when domestic analog manufacturers choose routes, they must choose to avoid competing with foreign manufacturers and products that target local domestic demand. For example, a meter chip developed by Fudan Microelectronics is an example. But the problem is that this product is relatively The narrow market can only be used as an expedient measure to solve the problem of temporary survival, and in order to achieve long-term development, it is necessary to compete directly in the global market, because foreign semiconductor manufacturers are also constantly localizing, and local advantages caused by closedness cannot Second, domestic IC companies must pay attention to sales in addition to R&D and production,” said Luo Minjian, deputy general manager of Wuhan Liyuan Information Technology Co., Ltd., a well-known domestic distributor. “When we cooperate with foreign semiconductor manufacturers, its distribution system It is very mature and domestic IC manufacturers have very weak channel construction, and there is no perfect agency system, and the prices to agents and distributors are all chaotic and they rely on themselves to run large customers. Big customers generally have their own channels. If you want to break into its supply chain, the unsoundness of the system will create a great deal of restraint. Market share is certainly very small."

With regard to new materials and new technologies, we must still soberly realize that "following" is still the main theme. Lu Yang mentioned that currently the silicon-based COMS process of analog ICs is still in the stage of continuous improvement and continuous improvement. New materials such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride may have prospects in the field of rectification or power amplifiers, but domestic analog IC companies should also focus on Master CMOS process. "Compared with the IDM model of foreign analog manufacturers, domestic analog manufacturers need to reach a certain scale to consider. At present, this is still relatively far from this goal." Lu Yang said without regrets, "It is also urgently needed for the support of national policies." ."

The more integrated now

The analog industry has shifted from "focusing on performance improvement of individual functional blocks" to "emphasizing analog integration solutions" in the past. Therefore, it is not enough to confine itself to designing products with slightly better performance than single-function devices.

"The world was originally analog, but after decades of digitization, the digitized results are digitized. The rest of the world is more difficult to do and requires decades of knowledge." Tang Xiaoquan's words also illustrate the analog IC design from the side. The difficulty.

Today is no longer an era when analog ICs can be won alone. The era of integrated solutions has arrived. Todd Whitaker, vice president of marketing at Maxim Marketing, stated that the driving force for the development of the analog industry stems from the designers’ desire to reduce the size, power consumption, and component count, and from the past focus on the performance of individual functional modules to the current focus on analog integration. “This is a major change for the analog industry. Analog vendors must have a better understanding of the systems they are using. Experts in the amplifier field and data converter experts need to work together to design products that can solve system-level problems. In order to create a more competitive simulation solution, it is not enough to simply design products with slightly better performance than single-function devices,” Todd Whitaker further pointed out.

The integration test is all-round strength. The domestic analog manufacturers need to plan ahead. Of course, they cannot be integrated simply for integration, and they still need to find out the focus. “Even if some devices are integrated, they can occupy more markets and expand profits, but there are still risks. If they are just integrated, their opponents will cut prices, and their opponents will brake statically. This will be very passive, so we must combine market demand with The strength to consider." Lu Yang said.