Smart power approaches VLSI complexity

This paper reviews the latest trends in the mixed power process field driven by the need to integrate increasing numbers of functions on the same chip. The more recent BCD (bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) examples are a demonstration of how smart power technology evolves following, with some delay, the road maps of VLSI CMOS and BiCMOS. The issues behind the trend to converge to a common technology platform, maintaining the peculiar aspects of power functions integration, are discussed, as well as new possible realizations in the field of super smart power ICs.