[ChuckMcM]

I don't disagree at all, this analysis is spot on. The size of discretes on silicon has not shrunk nearly as much as it has for transistors. However, where I am coming from is that because the transistors have shrunk so dramatically it becomes possible to put an entire CPU in the "left over" space after you've placed the discretes.

There was a talk at either Hot Chips or ISSC in 2011? about a mixed mode chip where the die was 2/3rds analog parts and 1/3 digital part. Xilinx, the FPGA maker, came out with the "RF SOC" which has a "huge" analog section with multiple high speed ADCs and DACs and analog reference logic, plus and FPGA fabric, plus a quad-core AARch64 CPU. As I recall Cypress had something similar but the part family is escaping me at the moment.

But I am still looking for chip that integrates an SMPS so that they can run on a very wide range of voltages like the CD4000 series did (and still does). Combined with the ability to source 10's of milliamps like the ATMega and PIC chips did (and still do).

[londons_explore]

Plenty of chips integrate a voltage regulator so you can run digital logic from as much as 300 volts. Used in the controllers for some dimmable AC Led's for example.

I believe the linear regulator is implemented as a large resistor followed by some zener diode or something. I assume that's so the high voltage doesn't need to touch the silicon, merely the other end of some not-very-good insulator put on top.

[KANahas]

The Cypress part family you are likely thinking of is the PSoC line, it’s a MCU mixed with very configurable analog front end.

[ChuckMcM]

Yeah that was what I was looking for, apparently it has an Infineon[1] part number now : https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/product/microcontroller/32-b... which is kind of cool.

[1] Apparently Infineon closed their acquisition of Cypress in 2020.