[sdiy] IC Prototyping was: SSM2040

[Dave Manley]

If it matters, I had to do some googling to come up with the ArrayDesign 
ref in the first place.  ;-)
I had come across it a while ago while looking for online info regarding 
a book on IC design that Paul Schreiber had put up for sale.

Looking at voltage ratings, CEM parts are typically +/-15V, while the 
700 Series is limited to 20V, so I doubt there is a direct connection.  
Still, if someone wants to decap some dead parts and publish photos that 
would be cool.  I'm a little surprised no one has done that before.  
There must be piles of dead CEM parts laying around.

-Dave

Barry Klein wrote:
> Ok guys, who was first with the googling me or Dave? :-)
> We have an xray machine here in our FA lab - if anyone has bad CEM/SSM's I
> can probably get them looked at...
>
> Barry
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> [mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of Dave Manley
> Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 4:55 PM
> To: Eric Brombaugh
> Cc: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
> Subject: Re: [sdiy] IC Prototyping was: SSM2040
>
> Googling I found a company Zetex that claims to build the 700 series 
> parts.  On the Zetex site (http://www.zetex.com/3.0/700series.asp), 
> there is a list of partners, one of which is On Chip, which is the 
> company that did the CEM chips.  Does this mean the CEMs are analog 
> arrays? No, not necessarily, but it is interesting that there is a 
> relationship between On Chip and the Series 700 family.  If I had to 
> guess, I wouldn't bet on CEMs being analog arrays.
>
> If anyone has some dead CEMS, it would be interesting to crack the 
> package open and take a look at the die.  The 700 series manual gives a 
> plan view of all the die foundations in the family.  A full custom part 
> will look nothing like an array.
>
> -Dave
>
>
> Eric Brombaugh wrote:
>   
>> Cool - DEI is in a little industrial park about 3 miles from my house! 
>> Looks like they mostly do replacement devices for obsolete military & 
>> space qualified parts - there's a fairly good business in that in this 
>> area due to a lot of old fabs that are available cheap and those gov't 
>> customers are willing to pay well to keep their ancient product lines 
>> rolling.
>>
>> Correct me if I'm wrong - weren't the CEM chips all done on a quick-turn 
>> analog array? Those parts would probably translate to the DEI process 
>> pretty easily. The big issue there would be either getting the rights to 
>> the circuits, or the effort of recreating them from scratch. I believe 
>> that's basically what DSI did for their Evolver & Prophet 8 voice chips.
>>
>> Eric
>>
>> Barry Klein wrote:
>>     
>>> Wow, Googling this stuff is getting interesting:
>>> http://www.deiaz.com/docs/BR-MW-01700-00-B.pdf
>>>
>>> Barry
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Dave Manley [mailto:dlmanley at sonic.net] Sent: Friday, November 
>>> 02, 2007 3:00 PM
>>> Cc: Barry Klein; synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
>>> Subject: Re: [sdiy] IC Prototyping was: SSM2040
>>>
>>> Another option is a semi-custom approach such as the one offered by 
>>> Array Design.  This is a company run by Hans Camenzind, who is 
>>> probably better known as the designer of the 555 timer.  His idea is 
>>> to predefine a family of die with varying numbers of transistors, 
>>> resistors, etc. The design is then customized with metalization 
>>> (similar to a Gate Array).  This should greatly reduce the cost and 
>>> time to manufacture a part (assuming the family is at all active).  It 
>>> wouldn't give you a exact clone, but it could enable making some 
>>> interesting devices.
>>>
>>> http://www.arraydesign.com/
>>>
>>> The reference manual for the family is here:
>>>
>>> http://www.arraydesign.com/700series.html
>>>
>>>
>>> Hans is in his mid-70's at this point, so I wonder if this company is 
>>> still an option.  I don't know if there are any other companies 
>>> offering similar services.
>>>
>>> If you've never seen a book on designing analog ICs there is a free 
>>> download by Hans here:
>>>
>>> http://www.designinganalogchips.com/
>>>
>>> Lots of good reference material on IC current mirrors, voltage 
>>> references, diff amps, opamps, OTAs, etc.  Also some interesting 
>>> historical information.
>>>
>>> -Dave
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>>> Barry Klein wrote:
>>>>>           
>>>>>> take a read of this discussion:
>>>>>> http://www.edn.com/blog/1700000170/post/1850011785.html
>>>>>> Read the last two paragraphs.  How is it going to be inexpensive
>>>>>> to make
>>>>>> your own IC?  How would any of us, even if we had 10K$ even proceed?
>>>>>> I suppose there is some university teaching this stuff but it is
>>>>>> not common
>>>>>> knowledge otherwise.  Are they hinting it will be?
>>>>>>             
>>>>>>> From discussion:
>>>>>>> AFAIK, nobody has produced a pin compatible 2040 or 3320 clone.
>>>>>>>               
>>>>>> I believe that's correct, but there's nothing stopping anyone from
>>>>>> doing so if they felt it was worth the effort.
>>>>>>