Shrinking feature sizes, combined with the need for low-power and lightweight components, fuel the desire to place large mixed-signal systems onto a single die. A major design issue in mixed-signal systems is the effect of digital switching noise coupled to sensitive analog circuits through the substrate. A method is presented for minimizing this effect by partitioning digital and analog processing into separate time blocks. The resulting trade-of T between lost signal and increased energy consumption is explored. As an example, a GPS synchronizer design is analyzed with respect to modifications that can be made to increase performance, while mini- mizing any associated energy penalty. Application of the partitioning method to other communications systems is discussed.
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