Early Prediction of Conducted-Mode Emission of Complex Ic’s

Abstract

A new design methodology is presented for predicting the conducted-mode emission generated by an integrated circuit. Using the Integrated Circuit Electromagnetic Model (ICEM) developed by the International Electro-technical Commission (IEC), the influence of the internal power supply distribution is modeled, and the sensitivity to design options or external factors such as supply voltage variations may be studied. Using ICEM models written in VHDL-AMS leads to efficient simulation, from the early steps of the design process, of self-perturbation and self-immunity of a complex integrated circuit. These ICEM models may be part of an IP-block definition, preserving confidentiality. Providing an early stage information on the EMC quality of the chip facilitates the way to a first-time working silicon. A full 8-bit micro-controller with core, memories and I/O blocks, from an existing industrial design, is used to validate the methodology.