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April 18 2008

Alexandre Boyer

INSA de Toulouse

Electromagnetic Compatibility of Electromagnetic Compatibility of Integrated Circuits (EMC of ICs)Integrated Circuits (EMC of ICs)

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OUTLINE

AGENDA

9h - 12h: EMC of ICs – part I (Course)

14h - 17h: EMC of ICs – part II (Course)

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the course, the auditor will be able to understand the origins of

electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues at integrated circuits level, the

basic knowledge to face with EMC issues, and become familiar with the most

common circuit-level EMC design guidelines.

PRE REQUISITES

Basic knowledge in electrical circuits, CMOS technology, electromagnetism.

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OUTLINE

CONTENT

Introduction

EMC Basics concepts

Emission/Susceptibility Origin

Measurement methods

EMC Models

EMC Guidelines

Conclusion / Future of EMC

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1. Introduction

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What is EMC ?

« Disturbances of flight instruments causing trajectory deviations appear when one or several passengers switch on electronic devices. » (Air et Cosmos, April 1993)

29th July 1967 : accident of the American aircraft carrier USSForrestal. The accidental launching of a rocket blew gas tank and weapon stocks, killing 135 persons and causing damages which needed 7 month reparations. Investigations showed that a radar induced on plane wiring a sufficient parasitic voltage to trigger the launching of the rocket.

Two examples

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What is EMC ?

« The ability of a device, equipment or system to function satisfactorily in its electromagnetic environment without introducing intolerable electromagnetic disturbance to anything in that environment. »

Guarantee the simultaneous operation of all nearby electric or electronic devices and the safety of users in a given electromagnetic environment

Reduce parasitic electromagnetic emission and their sensitivity or susceptibility to electromagnetic interferences

Maximum levels and methods to characterize emission and susceptibility of an equipment are defined by standards

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What is EMC ?Examples of EMC standards

The existence of EMC specifications is linked to the safety and robustness level that an equipment must reach. EMC standards for automotive, aerospace, military, transport, medical, telecommunication applications, but also for

commercial products

• European EMC directive 89/336/EEC about electronic products EMC requirements

• IEC-TC77 and CISPR : IEC technical committee related to EMC standards

• For automotive applications : ISO 7637, ISO 11452, CISPR 25, SAE J1113

• For military applications : MIL-STD-461D, MIL-STD-462D

• For aerospace applications : DO-160

• For integrated circuits : IEC 61963, IEC 62132

CE mark

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Context - Technology Scale Down

0.1

Lithography (µm)

Year

80286 16MHz

80386 33MHz 486

66MHz Pentium 120MHz

1.0

0.2

0.3

2.0

0.05

Research

Deep

submicron

Industry

Pentium III 0.7GHz

Submicron Micron Ultra deep submicron

Pentium IV 3GHz

Nano scale

65nm

45nm

83 86 89 92 95 98 01 04 07 10 13

0.01

0.02

0.03 32nm

22nm

Working 7nm device

Deep Nano

0.25µm

Pentium DualCore2.2GHz

Channel length divided by 2 each 18 month in the 90’s

Research has 5 year advance on industry

This trend has major consequences on electronic systems safety, reliability, … and EMC

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EMC of ICs

• Until mid 90’s, IC designers had no consideration about EMC problems in their design. EMc was only handled at system and PCB levels

• Many EMC problems originate from ICs (3rd origin of IC redesign !), as it is the source of noise emission and sensitivity

• With technology trends (increased clock speed, chip complexity and reduced voltage), ICs are more emissive and sensitive to noise

• Semiconductor manufacturers are faced with increasing customer expectations for designing low emission and highly immune ICs

EMC must be handled at IC level

Why EMC of ICs

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Customer’s specifications

Frequency

Emission level

measurementSimulation

Target

Improve or develop EMC measurement methods to respond to new customer’s requests

Develop simulation tools to predict EMC of IC behavior

Develop design guidelines aiming at reducing emission and susceptibility levels

IC emission spectrum

IC emission spectrum

EMC of IC topics

EMC of ICs

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EMC of ICs

Design issuesEMC problems handled at the end of design cycle

DESIGN

Architectural Design

Design EntryDesign Architect

FABRICATION

Version n°

EMC Measurements

GONO GO

+ 6 months

+ $$$$$$$$

Compliance ?

Version n°

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DESIGN

Architectural Design

Design EntryDesign Architect

FABRICATION

EMC compliant

EMC SimulationsCompliance ?

GO

NO GO

EMC validated before fabricationDesign Guidelines

Tools

Training

EMC problems handled at the end of design cycle

EMC of ICs

Design issues

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2. EMC Basic Concepts

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Electrical domain Electromagnetic domainVoltage V (Volt) Electric Field E (V/m)

Current I (Amp) Magnetic field H (A/m)

Impedance Z (Ohm) Characteristic impedance Z0 (Ohm)

Z=V/I Z=E/H

P=I2 x R (watts) P=H2 x 377 (watts/m2) far field conditions

The “EMC” way of thinking

EMC environment

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Wide dynamic range of signals in EMC → use of dB (decibel)

0.1

10

1

100

0.01

Volt dBV

0.001

0.001

0.1

0.01

1

0.0001

MilliVolt

dBµV

0.00001

Voltage units

For example dBV, dBA :

AdBA

VdBV

log20

log20

Extensive use of dBµV

120log201

log20

V

µV

VVdBµV

0

20

40

-20

-40

-60

0

20

40

-20

-40

60

Specific Units

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Specific Units

Power units

The most common power unit is the “dBm” (dB milli-Watt)

1 mV = ___ dBµV

0.1 W = ___ dBm

Exercise: Specific units

30log101

log10

W

WdBmW P

mW

PP

1 W

1 MW

1 KW

Power(Watt)

1 mW

Power(dBm)

1 µW

1 nW

30

90

60

0

-30

-60

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Emission and susceptibility level units

30K 300K 3M 30M40

50

60

70

80

dBµV

Conducted emission level (CISPR25)

Class 4

Class 5

1M 100M 1G10

20

30

40

50

dBµV/m

Radiated emission level (CISPR25)

Class 5

10M

CISPR 25 : “Radio disturbance characteristics for the protection of receivers used on board vehicles, boats, and on devices – Limits and methods of measurement”

Specific Units

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Fourier Transform

Time domain measurement

Volt

Time

Frequency measurementFourier transform

Freq (Log)

dB

Invert Fourier transform

Fourier transform: principle

Spectrum analyserOscilloscope

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Fourier TransformWhy Frequency domain is so important ?

FFT

User’s specification

Time domain Frequency domain

Low level harmonics contribution

Only high level harmonics contribution appears

Contribution of each harmonic appears

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Fourier transform - Example

50 % duty cycle trapezoidal signal 

Period T = 100 ns, Tr = Tf = 2 ns

rr Tou

T

35.01

T

1

rT

1

-20 dB/dec

-40 dB/decFFT

Fourier Transform

Evaluation of signal bandwidth

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Emission spectrum

Specification for an IC  emission

Parasitic emission (dBµV)

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 10 100 1000Frequency (MHz)

Measured emission

EMC compatible

Aggressor IC

Radiated emission

Sufficient margin

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dBµV

0

20

40

60

80

100

10 100 1000

FM GSMRFLow parasitic emission is a key argument

Supplier A

Supplier B

EMC compliant

Not EMC compliant

Frequency(MHz)

Customer's specified limit

Emission spectrum

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Susceptibility threshold

Immunity level (dBmA)

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

40

50

1 10 100 1000

Specification for board immunityCurrent injection limit

Measured immunity

A very low energy produces a fault

Frequency (MHz)

Victim IC

Immunity level has to be higher than customer specification

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Notion of margin

Domain Lifetime Margin

Aeronautics 30 years 40 dB

Automotive 10 years 20 dB

Consumer 1 year 0 dB 

Parasitic emission (dBµV)

Component/PCB/System Ageing

Nominal Level

Design Objective

Process dispersion

Measurement error/dispersion

Environment

Safety margin

To ensure the electromagnetic

compatibility, emission or

susceptibility levels have to be lower

than a nominal target … …But it is not sufficient to a zero

error probability ! Margin are required to compensate

unpredictable variations and reduce

the error probability.

Margin depends on the

safety level required in

an application domain:

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Parasitic coupling mechanisms

Radiated mode – Antenna coupling

Example : The VSS supply track propagates noise

The EM wave propagates through the air

Coupling mechanisms

Conducted mode – Common impedance coupling

• Loop : Magnetic field coupling

• Wire : Electric field coupling

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Parasitic coupling mechanisms

Crosstalk

Parasitic coupling between nearby conductors.

Near field coupling ≠ radiated coupling

Capacitive crosstalk Inductive crosstalk

dielectricground

C C

C12

h

t

wd

dielectricground

L12

h

t

wddt

dVCI

dt

dILV

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Impedance

R,L,C vs. frequency

Impedance profile of:

•50 ohms resistor

•100pF capacitor

•10nH inductor

•a real 100 pF SMD capacitor

Z = constant

Z÷10 at each decade

Z×10 at each decade

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Ceramic capacitor

Carbon resistor

Inductor

Impedance

Passive components – Real model

Understand EMC issues requires the knowledge of

electronic device parasitics

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Interconnections

2a

l

Current

acdc RRR

2a

lRdc

a

lRac 2

1

2ln

2 a

llL o

Quasi static approximation : If l <

λ/20, interconnections are considered as electrically small

PCB

Package

Bonding wires

Parasitic resistance

Parasitic inductance

Interconnect parasitics

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Interconnections

Coaxial line Microstrip line

• From the electromagnetic point of view:

H

EZ 0 Link to conductor geometry and material properties

jCG

jLRZ

0C

LZ 0

losslessconductor

• From the electric point of view :

Equivalent electrical schematic

Characteristic impedance

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Interconnections

Impedance matching

Adapted: the line is transparentNot adapted: the line suffers ringing, insertion losses

time

Voltage

time

Voltage

Essential for signal integrity and power transfer

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Interconnections

Characteristic impedance Small conductor Large conductor

What is the optimum characteristic impedance for a coaxial cable ?

• Maximum power : Z0 = 32

• Minimum loss: Z0 = 77

Small conductor

Large conductor

Power handling X

Bending X

weight X

Low loss x x

Small capacitance

x

Small inductance

x

Low Impedance x

Or ?

Ideal values:

• EMC cable (compromise between power and loss) : Z0 = 50

• TV cable (minimize Loss): Z0 = 75

Cable examples:

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50 Ω adapted equipments

Gtem

Tem cell

Spectrum analyzer

Waveform generator

Amplifier

EMC equipments

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3. Origin of Emission and Susceptibility of ICs

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Two main conceptsEmission of EM wavesSusceptibility to EM waves

Personal entrainments

Safety systems

interferences

Hardware faultSoftware failureFunction Loss

Components

Printed circuit boards

Equipments

System

Noise

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Susceptibility

Chip

Chip

EmissionPCB

PCB System

Components

Components

System

Integrated circuits are the origin of parasitic emission and susceptibility to RF disturbances in electronic systems

Noisy IC

Sensitive IC

Interferences

Radiation

Coupling

EMC at system level

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Source of Electromagnetic Interferences Natural disturbances

(cosmic rays, thunder)Radio communications,

wireless, radars,…

Electrical Overstress

Inductive loads, motors

IC activity

IC

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Technology trends

2000 2005 2010 2015

10nm

100nm

1m

Technology (log scale)

Year

0.13m90nm

45nm32nm

Technology trend high performance microprocessors

22nm

2020

1nm

7nm

18nm9nm

0.18m 0.13µm

65nm

Technology trend cost-performance 

microcontrollers0.25m

0.35m

90nm

45nm32nm

5-years gap22nm

Year

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Technology trends

1999

IC tech.

Complexity

Packaging

0.25 µm

50M

µC16 bit

µC16 bit

2001

0.18 µm

100M

µC32 bit

µC32 bit

2003

130 nm

250M

µC+DSPFlash

µC+DSPFlash

2005

90 nm

500M

2µC+4DSPMb Flash

2µC+4DSPMb Flash

2007

65 nm

1G

Multicore, DSP

FPGA, eRamRF multiband

Multicore, DSP

FPGA, eRamRF multiband

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VDD

VSS

Output capa

Vin

Basic mechanisms for CMOS circuit current: CMOS inverter exemple

IDD (0.1mA)

ISS (0.1mA)

IDD (0.1mA)

ISS  (0.1mA)

VOUT

Switching current

Voltage Time

Time

Origin of parasitic emission

Main noise sources comes from AC current sources:- Clock-driven blocks, synchronized logic

- Memory read/write/refresh

- I/O switching

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Origin of parasitic emission Parasitic emission is linked to voltage drops. The current peak are not the only responsible of emission. Inductance are responsible of the conversion of current peak to voltage drops. Current peaks and voltage drops generate the conducted emission and also responsible of the radiated emission.

Vss

Vdd

50ps

i(t)

Time

Switching gatesInternal

switching noise

Vdd

Vss

i(t)

Voltage dropst

iLV

t

iLV

i(t)Radiated Emission

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Stronger di/dt Stronger di/dt

Increase parasitic noise

Increase parasitic noise

Time

New process

VoltOld process

Why technology scale down makes things worse ?

• Current level keeps almost constant but:

• Faster current switching

• Current level keeps almost constant but:

• Faster current switching

Time

Current

di/dt

New processOld process

Origin of parasitic emission

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Example: evaluation of switching current in an IC

• 0.1 mA / Gate in 100ps• 1 Billion gates (32 Bit Micro) => 100A• 10% switching activity => 10A• Spreading of current peak (non synchronous switching) => 1A in 1ns

0.1 mA

Ampere

0.1 nstime

Vdd

Vss

i(t)Current / gate

Ampere

1 nstime

Current / Ic

1 A

Origin of parasitic emission

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Example: evaluation of supply voltage bounce

L=0.6nH/mm

L=1nH/mm

Lead = 10 mm

1 A en 1 ns Evaluate noise amplitude :

VDD

VSS

Lead = 10 mm

Chip

Origin of parasitic emission

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Origin of parasitic emission

Overview of influent parameters on parasitic emission

IC

i(t)IC Internal

interconnexions

IC activity

PCB tracks and external passive

components

Vdd

VssLoad

i(t)

Internal activity of the IC

Output load of the circuit

Filtering effect of IC interconnections

Filtering effects of PCB tracks and external passive components

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Susceptibility issues

5.0

3.3

2.51.8

0.5µ 0.35µ 0.18µ 90nm 65nmTechnology

0.7

Less voltage, more IOs

Supply (V)

1.2

45nm

Core supply

I/O supply

100 200 500 1000

Noise margin reduction

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Susceptibility issues

Hobby

Hobby

TV UHF 

Radars

Satellites 

MWave

Badge 

DECT

Stat. de base

1W

Frequency

1MW

1KW

1GW Radar Météo

3 MHz 30 MHz 300 MHz 3 GHz 30 GHz 300 GHz

Power

1mW

HF VHF UHF SHF xHF THF

Radar UMTS

TV VHF 

GSM

Components issues

Components issues

Multiple parasitic electromagnetic sources

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Susceptibility issues

Electromagnetic wave

System failureHardware fault

Software failure

Function loss

µp

mixed

More complex Ics, more levels in susceptibility

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Susceptibility issues

Desynchronisation issues Jitter is becoming increasingly important in digital design due to rising operating frequencies.

The increase of operating frequencies of digital circuits reduces their dynamic margin

EMI induced jitter

EMI induced jitter

Bit error

Dynamic failure

EMI on supply

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IC failures

Origin of IC susceptibility

Overview of influent parameters on IC susceptibility

IC

IC Internal interconnexions

IC active devices

PCB tracks and external passive

components

Vdd

Vss

RF interferences

Filtering effects of PCB tracks and external passive components

Filtering effect of IC interconnections

Impedance of IC nodes (high Z node = high susceptibility)

Non linear effects of active devices (conversion RF signals to DC offsets !)

Block own susceptibility (noise margin, delay margin, …) Internal perceived noise

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Block type Emission SusceptibilityFast digital I/O ++ -

Power switch output ++ --

Oscillator / PLL / Clock circuitry

++ ++

Charge pump ++ --

Digital block supply + -

Analog input/supply -- ++

DC/DC converter + ++

Emission / Susceptibility issues