Design of a robust analog/digital ASIC interface for hard industrial environment

The industrial environment places hard requirements on the analog structures of a current monitoring unit. An ASIC circuit is a good solution to gaining robust electronics for the harsh environment. In this paper an analog structure of a current monitoring unit is presented which can be used in several different applications such as measuring various kinds of apparatus. A prototype mixed analog/digital BiCMOS ASIC was designed and implemented using both the standard cells from the ASIC vendor and full custom blocks. Extra measures in design were put into effect for circuit robustness.<>