ABSTRACT
The custom microelectronic techniques to be discussed in this chapter, and which will continue to be the subject area of the remaining chapters of this text, now form a highly significant sector of the complete microelectronics spectrum. The technical reasons for the emergence of custom microelectronics have been covered in Chapter 1, namely the increasing maturity of both silicon fabrication and computer-aided design resources; the practical reasons for considering the use of custom circuits in preference to that of standard off-the-shelf ICs is to attempt to achieve a final product which is better in some way than can be obtained by using standard parts.
