IC Technology: Trends and impact on digital signal processing

Microprocessors have had a profound impact on the electronics industry in the last decade. While the original microprocessors were quite slow, more recent improvements in semiconductor processing and photolithography have produced much better performance. Performance of LSI circuits has now reached a point where real-time digital signal processing may rival analog approaches in economy. Special purpose microprocessors for signal processing are now appearing. In the future, considerable additional performance improvement may be expected, primarily from size reductions which lower cost and operating power as well as increasing speed. Not only will these trends make digital signal processing more attractive in the future, but signal to noise considerations will prevent analog approaches from taking full advantage of LSI advances. Therefore, the next decade should see a significant increase in application of digital signal processing, with extensions into areas now considered impractical.