Overview

Circuits with diverse electrical behavior are often placed in close physical proximity in order to achieve high-levels of on-chip integration. The activity of certain types of circuits can generate harmful interference, and degrade the performance of the system through electromagnetic coupling. Considerable effort in system-on-a-chip implementations is in fact related to technology and architectural considerations for minimizing this interference. This is especially the case in systems that have exacting requirements on the dynamic range such as those for wireless applications.

In this paper, we will discuss the evolution of techniques for modeling and analyzing these sources of noise generation and interference. We will provide a physical description of the problem. Techniques for extraction of electrical models to represent the media that support these noise sources will be covered. Macromodeling techniques will be discussed. Finally we will introduce the concept of functional modeling of circuit functions and present such a model for an integrated flash analog-to-digital converter.

Keywords: Self-induced, substrate, package, coupling, noise, modeling, functional-modeling

1. Introduction

The recent years have seen a proliferation of systems for various applications that require a mixed-signal implementation, where sensitive analog or small-signal circuits are placed in close proximity to large digital cores. Examples include systems for communications and consumer electronics. This is a departure from...