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PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB� DECEMBER 200834
SyStEM Design
System-level PCB emissions analysis reduces re-spins
and EMC issues when PCBs are incorporated into larger
systems. by Brad Brim
For PCB and package designs, the issues of crosstalk, reflec-
tions, skew, ringing and other classical signal integrity challenges
are pervasive and growing. A meaningful assessment of such
effects requires system-level consideration to reliably account for
coupling among traces as well as planes, vias and other design
structures. System-level analysis also enables consideration of
power integrity issues, such as power dissipation, thermal issues,
current constraints and power plane noise. Distinctions between
signal integrity (SI) and AC power integrity (PI) have blurred,
and the need for design-side consideration of EMC has escalated.
Simultaneous switching noise (SSN) is a perfect example of the
coupling between SI effects and the underlying PI root cause. It is
often the case, as for DDR memory circuits; this same SSN situa-
tion causes excessive power plane emissions and results in EMC
issues. Therefore, system-level SI, PI and EMC are much more
closely related than most designers realize.
Relationship Between SI and PI
Two of the first concepts electrical engineers learn are: current
flows in loops and voltage is the potential difference between two
points. These two simple concepts mandate the interdependency
of SI and PI for printed circuit board (PCB) and package designs.
To understand this concept, consider a signal net in a typical PCB
design. Current flows in the signal net from driver to receiver, and
so-called “return” current flows in the power/ground planes back
to the driver to complete the required loop. There is a transient
voltage at any point along the signal net. However, this voltage
is not uniquely defined in the absence of a second point, often
called a “reference” point. The voltage of interest at the driver is
between the output pin and a local power/ground pin. Similarly,
the voltage of interest at the receiver is between the input pin and
a local power/ground pin. As these two voltages reference differ-
ent local points in the power delivery system (PDS), any variation
across the PDS is seen as a variation in these voltages.
There are many sources of variation in a PDS between the
driver and the receiver reference pins. One example would be
system-level effects. A DC voltage drop will exist due to the finite
conductivity of the copper. Time delay for return currents becomes
significant as rise time decreases, and power plane resonances can
exist. All of these system-level PI effects are directly reflected in the
driver and the receiver transient voltages. Localized effects include
return path discontinuities, of which power plane splits and multi-
layer via transitions are the most common. These discontinuities
disrupt flow of the signal (SI effect) and also serve to locally
couple energy from the signal into the planes of the global PDS.
In fact, they are often a dominant source of power plane noise. In
driver and receiver transient voltages, these system-level and local-
ized PI effects are indistinguishable from more classical SI effects.
SI and PI are not only related, but also inseparable.
FigURe 1 shows an 8-layer, BGA flip-chip package design
for which SI and PI effects are tightly coupled. Ground nets
are dark green, power nets are copper and signal nets are other
colors. These two differential pair signal nets are modeled at first
with circuit analysis. A frequency-dependent W-element model is
applied for the differential pairs on the top layer and augmented
by a parasitic inductance and capacitance to model the via tran-
sitions and ball grid array (BGA) pads. To verify the fidelity of
this relatively quick and easy circuit model, a 3D EM analysis is
performed. Computational capacity limits imply that the analysis
only can be performed on the portion of the package shown in
FIGURE 1. The circuit analysis and 3D EM analysis results are
nearly identical, and most designers would comfortably consider
the design completed. However, performing a system-level analy-
sis of the whole package, including all coupled SI and PI effects,
demonstrates a power plane resonance that significantly perturbs
the transmitted, reflected and coupled signals on these two dif-
ferential pairs within the frequency band of interest.
FigURe 2 shows S-parameter results for this design. The 3D
PCB Signal integrity,
Power integrity and eMC Challenges
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35DECEMBER 2008� PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB
SyStEM Design
EM results are shown as solid traces and the system-level results
as dashed traces. Two sets of traces with similar but divergent
behavior are seen for each type of analysis that results from length
differences between the differential pairs. At about 40% of the
maximum frequency, the transmitted signal decreases signficantly
and the reflection is nearly as large as the transmission. At this
frequency, a resonance on the power planes occurs. This global PI
issue dramatically affects the perceived SI behavior of the design.
Without system-level analysis, this design would have proceeded
to manufacturing release and resulted in performance failure for
the packaged device.
SI and PI Analysis Tradeoffs
Circuit analysis SI results are very quick and easy to obtain for
this design. Transmission line calculators can determine the time
delay and the impedance of the differential pairs on the top lay-
ers, and via parasitics can be estimated based on previous experi-
ence or approximate equations. This circuit model yields enough
accuracy for higher-order circuit analyses, such as reflection or
timing budgets. Circuit analysis implicitly references all voltages
to global node 0, which implies a “global ground” and precludes
the consideration of all PI effects. The fidelity of the circuit model
could be improved by using 3D EM analysis results for the via
transitions.
3D EM analysis of an entire design can yield highly accurate
results and is ideal for detailed component design such as crafting
a via padstack and return via locations for a high-speed chan-
nel. However, significant computational resources are required,
and only a small portion of complex PCB or package designs
can be considered in a single analysis. In the previous example,
the power planes were truncated a reasonable distance from the
signal nets of interest – sufficiently far to capture local PI effects
of return path discontinuity but not to capture global PI effects
(a resonance in this case). Complex designs usually lack the com-
putational capacity for 3D EM analysis to adequately consider
PI issues.
Not surprisingly, the circuit and 3D EM analysis results were
similar. The via transitions and return paths were carefully crafted
to avoid localized return path discontinuities. Local to the dif-
ferential pairs, the circuit analysis assumption of an ideal global
ground return path was very close to the structure of the design.
The system-level analysis applied is a hybrid combination of
circuit analysis and EM analysis. Circuit-level analysis is applied
to concatenate the models of all components, such as: traces,
vias, pads and wirebonds. 2D and 3D EM computations are
applied to obtain electrical models for each circuit component;
3D EM analysis handles power planes. The circuit and the 3D
EM analyses are merged into one fully coupled hybrid analysis.
All local and global, SI and PI effects are considered by such
hybrid analysis. This analysis predicted the plane resonance effect
of the complex package design, which circuit analysis precluded
and 3D EM analysis did not have the capacity to include in the
physical model. However, this type of system-level analysis is
more complex than circuit analysis and, therefore, more com-
putational-intensive. Unlike 3D EM analysis, circuit analysis
techniques are leveraged only in part, but the advantages include
greater capacity and faster analysis of orders-of-magnitude. The
package design required only minutes of setup time and seconds
to perform circuit analysis, versus 30 minutes of setup time and
more than a day of computation time for 3D EM analysis of a
portion of the design, not to mention 15 minutes of setup and a
few hours of computation time for hybrid analysis of the entire
package.
Simultaneous Switching Noise:
A Combined SI and PI Challenge
SSN challenges are a paragon of inseparable signal effects and
power plane behavior. SSN effects exist even if all signal-to-signal
coupling is ignored. However, when power plane (return path)
effects are ignored, SSN no longer exists. To explore SSN, a sim-
ple 4-layer board was defined – a signal layer on top and bottom
with one power and one ground plane layer in the middle. As a
reference design, a signal net was routed from drivers to receivers
on the top layer only. The same signal net was then routed with a
significant portion of its length on the bottom layer of the board.
This multi-layer routed net was duplicated to form a parallel bus
to investigate SSN. These three designs are shown schematically
in FigURe 3. To transition from top layer to bottom layer, the
via transitions must pass through both the ground plane and
power plane, causing a discontinuity of return path – a PI issue.
To enable this return path change from one plane to the other,
the planes are connected through decoupling capacitors placed
locally to the via transitions.
FigURe 4 shows the transient voltage at the receiver load of
these three designs characterized with system-level hybrid analy-
sis. The black trace is the ideal case of routing a single net only on
the top layer. The red trace corresponds to routing a single net on
both top and bottom layers with multi-layer via transitions. Only
slight rise time degradation (skew) is observed in single-layer
FigURe 1.�An�8-layer�BGA�flip-chip�package�design�for�which�
SI�and�PI�effects�couple�and�system-level�analysis�is�required.
FigURe 2.�Frequency�response�of�two�high-speed�differential�
pairs.�Wide/solid�traces�are�3D�EM�SI�results.�Wide/dashed�
traces�are�system-level�SI/PI�results.
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PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB� DECEMBER 200836
SyStEM Design
routing, with a low level of signal ringing. In multi-layer routing
for a bus structure of four or eight nets, the SSN condition of all
drivers switching at the same time demonstrates increased skew
and increased ringing as the bus width increases.
Net lengths were intentionally kept short to avoid proximity
coupling effects. The results are unchanged for circuit analysis if
this circuit-level effect is intentionally ignored in the hybrid analy-
sis. Circuit analysis ignores PI effects and, for all cases, predicts
exactly the same rise time degradation and maximum overshoot
as for the ideal single-net, single-layer case.
FigURe 5 shows the transient voltage at the receiver load
of SSN condition for the multi-layer bus with eight drivers. The
black reference trace for single-net, single-layer routing and the
violet trace for the bus are duplicated from FIGURE 4. The addi-
tion of four, large-valued, 0805 capacitors yields the yellow curve.
The skew is eliminated and the maximum overshoot is reduced
from a completely unacceptable level of 772 mV to a better, but
still troublesome, 260 mV. The addition of two, smaller-valued,
0603 decoupling capacitors local to the two via transition regions
yields the red trace. Maximum overshoot is dramatically reduced
to 49 mV, just 10 mV higher than the ideal case of single-net,
single-layer routing.
The implicit global ground applied precludes PI effects; there-
fore, decoupling capacitors are not included in circuit analysis.
A semi-numerical and approximate analysis technique can be
implemented to apply circuit analysis techniques by gridding
power/ground planes and representing local RLC parasitics for
each grid point. However, this approximate PI analysis cannot
include signal nets. 3D EM analysis of this simple example could
be performed without reaching computational capacity limits.
Though nearly identical analysis results are achieved by 3D EM
and hybrid analysis for these simple designs, the computational
resources of hybrid analysis are >100 times less for time and
memory.
Relationship of SI and PI to EMC
SI issues result in reflections and ringing on signal nets. Signal
nets exposed to the top or bottom of the board without power
plane shielding can leak energy. Nets with global extent, long
interconnects and significant reflection result in higher emission
levels. Synchronous signals, such as clocks, and SSN conditions
on buses also present potential EMC challenges due to the cur-
rent flowing in the nets. However, signal net current cannot exist
in the absence of return current in the power planes; therefore,
emissions from signal current flow are only part of the EMC
challenge. Local return current changes for multi-layer vias and
signal nets that cross voids in planes can result in emissions usu-
ally much lower than the more global power radiated current
changes due to noise voltage at power plane edges. Multi-layer via
transitions, net crossings of split-planes and SSN bus conditions
all cause power plane noise. Minimizing these physical structures
and careful decoupling capacitor placement lowers power plane
emissions. In practice, power plane emissions typically dominate
PCB emissions; less often, synchronous clocks (especially their
higher harmonics) dominate.
Emissions cannot be characterized from PCB geometry alone, as
they are critically dependent on currents in the nets and noise voltage
on power plane edges. Thus, system-level analysis must be performed
prior to emissions characterization. In this sense, EMC analysis is a
post processing step after SI/PI analysis. EMC analysis is primarily
a post-layout process. However, significant EMC risk can be elimi-
nated through pre-layout emissions analysis of power planes with
their corresponding decoupling capacitor placement and selection.
Current source drivers are applied to represent the transient switch-
ing profile of devices; a good representation of power plane emission
levels is predictable very early in the PCB design process.
FigURe 5.�The�effects�of�decoupling�capacitors�for�multi-layer�
bus�routing.
FigURe 4.�SSN�without�decoupling�capacitors.
FigURe 3.�PCB�trace�and�bus�routing�alternatives:�top�layer�
only�or�involving�both�top�and�bottom�layers.
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37DECEMBER 2008� PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB
SyStEM Design
The DDR memory block of a complex PCB design is exam-
ined for emissions issues because it contains parallel buses and
synchronous clocks – known to cause EMC issues. This design
was characterized with system-level SI/PI hybrid analysis. The
transient signals applied by the hybrid analysis were specified to
correspond as closely as possible to the actual operating condition
of the PCB, and cables were not considered in the hybrid analysis.
Magnetic fields near the surface of the board were measured and
compared to magnetic fields computed from SI/PI hybrid analysis
results. The DDR board block is shown on the left portion in
FigURe 6 and the measured results are compared to the hybrid
analysis results on the right. Color-shading scales are the same for
the measurement.
The spatial distribution amplitude of the magnetic fields
compare well between measurements and hybrid analysis.
Given the engineering uncertainty of emissions, predictions
are +/- 5 dB versus the typical expectations of +/- 5% for
circuit design applications. This correspondence is quite
adequate to assure EMC issues are well predicted by SI/PI/
EMC hybrid analysis prior to manufacturing physical pro-
totypes. Design changes can be quickly prototyped and veri-
fied with one half hour of engineering time for setup, a few
hours of computer time for the analysis and 15 minutes of
interactive results post processing. Government compliance
specifications still must be certified by measurement for end
products, but system-level PCB emissions analysis can yield
a faster time to market by requiring fewer design iterations
and board turns, and it can significantly reduce risks of EMC
challenges when PCBs are incorporated into larger systems.
SI, PI and EMC are three sides of the same coin. It is
important to recognize the relationship between SI and PI
challenges, as mandated by required current loops and two-
terminal voltages. In fact, SI and PI issues are indistinguish-
able. Similarly, SI and PI issues are the perpetrators of EMC
challenges. System-level hybrid analysis is a vehicle by which
these three inseparable challenges can be considered within
PCB design flow. PCD&F
BRaD BRim�has�product�marketing�responsibilities�for�Sig-
rity�in�the�area�of�IC�package�and�PCB�extraction�and�can�be�
reached�at�bradb@sigrity.com
FigURe 6.�Measured�vs.�modeled�magnetic�fields�near�a�DDR�
memory�block�(courtesy�LG�Electronics,�Korea�).
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