Voltage/frequency reference IP

Inside virtually every chip made today sits a small circuit almost no one names: a bandgap voltage reference. It generates a stable voltage of about 1.2 to 1.3 volts that barely moves with temperature, supply, or manufacturing variation. Analog-to-digital converters, power management ICs, sensor interfaces, data acquisition systems — nearly all of them depend on it. India, as of 2024, has near-total import dependence for commercial-grade reference ICs and no domestic commercial supplier.

The difficulty is not conceptual. The technique — compensating the falling base-emitter voltage of a PN junction (roughly minus two millivolts per kelvin) with a current proportional to absolute temperature — has been published since the 1960s. The hard part is precision. An untrimmed reference typically drifts 20 to 50 parts per million per degree. Reaching the 5 to 10 ppm/°C that commercial parts guarantee requires trimming and calibration during manufacturing, and layout that carefully controls device mismatch and temperature drift. The knowledge is open; the execution is a craft.

India has that craft at lab level. The Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh — the country's sole establishment able to fabricate analog, mixed-signal, and digital ICs — designs voltage regulators and voltage references in 180nm CMOS, silicon-proven and space-qualified. Its VLSI work has produced ASICs and test chips delivered to end users for space and strategic programmes. Cyient Semiconductors and MosChip Technologies offer analog and mixed-signal IP design services, including power management and frequency synthesis. The design talent is deep: India houses nearly 20% of the world's semiconductor design engineers and produces around 3,000 chip designs a year, with recognised strength in analog design.

Yet the gap persists, and it is structural. SCL's references are built for space and defence, not the open market. Most of India's design talent serves multinational corporations, leaving little visibility for indigenous IP. The country holds few semiconductor IP assets; foreign firms — Qualcomm, Samsung, Huawei — hold the majority of chip patents filed in India. For startups, the economics are punishing: EDA design tools are expensive, and fab cycles run long. India relies on Cadence, Synopsys, and Siemens for the design software itself.

What it would take is less invention than commercialisation. The foundational pieces exist — a working 180nm process, demonstrated PLL and op-amp design, published bandgap methodology, and precision-layout capability. Turning space-grade references into trimmed, characterised, catalogue parts for the open market is the ascent that remains: converting proven silicon into products anyone can buy.