Capacitor Model Details Key to Measurement Correlation

Power integrity and system engineers have the task of designing, optimizing, and assessing the power distribution network impedance. EM simulators are used to model these networks to optimize the decoupling capacitors and to perform worst case assessments, using simulated dynamic chip currents and applying worst case tolerances. Once the hardware is constructed, measurements are performed for correlation, so that the model can be validated. Many engineers struggle to achieve reasonable part model and circuit model correlation. This paper explores two prevalent reasons for this shortfall and provides a methodology for performing accurate capacitor measurements to achieve these correlations.