Foreword [to the Special Issue]

The December issue of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits is traditionally thought of as an interesting and important reference volume by all of us who specialize in the field of analog design and applications. As always, this issue highlights the recent work of the leaders in our field, and provides a forum for expanded versions of some of the papers presented at the 1980 International Solid-State Circuits Conference. This is the issue which indicates not only the newest techniques, but the new challenges in solid-state circuit design as well. This year the papers fall mostly into one of three applications areas. These are: Voice Communication, Data Acquisition, and Signal Conditioning. More specifically, the papers can be further categorized into narrower ranges of application or by the techniques that their circuits employ.