The evolution of analog/digital interface in submicron IC´s

It is quite common these days to evaluate an IC´s progress considering the well known Moore´s law that predicts the spectacular increase in terms of transistor count. If you consider the analog world, up to a few years ago, the evolution was proceeding at a slower rate. In this condition the interfacing between the two worlds has not changed too much. But in the 90´s new technologies are coming on board, that are mainly merging the high performance component needed for the analog world with the density of CMOS. So the scenario is evolving differently, making possible different partitioning. In the following we try to describe today´s situation compared to the past and try to anticipate the future. We discover a new way to define the analog function, with a few emerging realities and probably a new style for the analog designer