Modeling of dynamic switching currents of digital VLSI IC modules and verification by on-chip measurement

Abstract

Tough requirements on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of electronic equipment forces the demand for low electromagnetic emission (EME) of integrated circuit devices. To enable an efficient application of measures reducing the noise emission, automatic model generation tools are needed to be part of the design flow. In this paper we present a method for high level modeling of dynamic switching currents of complex digital IC modules as well as the verification of the simulation results with a high speed on-chip current and voltage sensor. The current profile calculation for single modules is based on statistical approaches, and parasitic effects of cell interconnects are modeled by utilizing signal processing methods.