Integrated circuits (ICs) are the core engine of instrumentation, determining the accuracy, speed, and stability of measurements. The essence of instruments and meters is to convert physical signals (such as pressure, temperature, radiation) into processable digital information, which has an ultimate pursuit of chip performance.

Mainly reflected in the following four levels:

·Precision measurement: This is the most technically challenging step. The high-precision analog-to-digital converter and analog front-end are responsible for amplifying and digitizing the weak signals captured by sensors (such as nanovolt level voltage and picoampere level current) without loss, which determines the core accuracy of the instrument; The reference voltage source provides a reference standard for extremely low temperature drift, ensuring stable readings of multimeters, calibrators, and other equipment at different temperatures.

·Signal generation and processing: Direct digital frequency synthesizers can generate high-purity, high-frequency spectral accurate sine waves or arbitrary waveforms, which are key to signal generators and network analyzers; In devices such as digital oscilloscopes, high-performance FPGAs are responsible for real-time triggering, decoding, and filtering of high-speed sampled data (billions of times per second).

·Sensors and Front End: MEMS sensors are the core of digital pressure gauges and industrial transmitters; In high-end equipment such as mass spectrometers and photomultiplier tubes, dedicated integrated circuits are used to achieve extremely weak signal detection such as single photon counting.

·Core control and communication: Instruments and meters are developing towards intelligence. High performance microcontrollers or embedded processors are responsible for human-computer interaction, mathematical operations (such as FFT spectrum analysis), and result calibration; Simultaneously integrating USB, Ethernet, or GPIB interface chips to achieve high-speed interconnection with automated testing systems.

It is worth mentioning that high-end instrument chips attach great importance to the characteristics of low noise (avoiding interference with weak signals), high stability (extremely low annual aging rate), and high bandwidth.