Integrated Circuit EMC Design Questions

4. What types of measurements can be made to evaluate the electromagnetic compatibility of integrated circuits?

Several measurement techniques have been proposed to try to quantify the relative merits of IC designs from an EMC standpoint. These techniques can be classified as either emissions measurements or susceptibility measurements. Six IC emission measurement techniques are described in the standard,

IEC 61967 "Integrated Circuits: Measurement of Electromagnetic Emissions, 150 kHz to 1000 MHz."

Part 1: General and Definitions

Part 2: Radiated RF Emissions, TEM Cell Method

Part 3: Radiated RF Emissions, Surface Scan Method

Part 4: Conducted RF Emissions, Direct Coupling Method (1 ohm/150 ohm)

Part 5: Conducted RF Emissions, Workbench Faraday Cage Method

Part 6: Conducted RF Emissions, Magnetic Probe Method

Immunity measurements are specified in the IEC standard,

IEC 62132 "Integrated Circuits: Measurement of Electromagnetic Immunity, 150 kHz to 1000 MHz."

Part 1: General and Definitions

Part 2: Radiated RF Immunity, TEM Cell Method (draft)

Part 3: Radiated RF Immunity, Bulk Current Injection Method (draft)

Part 4: Conducted RF Immunity, Direct Coupling Method (1 ohm/150 ohm)

Part 5: Conducted RF Immunity, Workbench Faraday Cage Method

Of the 5 different radiated emission tests proposed, the two that come the closest to providing useful information about the IC as a potential electromagnetic emissions source are the TEM cell method and the Direct Coupling Method. Procedures for extracting information that characterizes an IC as an emissions source are described in [1-3].

References

[1] T. Hubing, “Building IC Models Based on Measurements and Using these Models Productively,” Proc. of the 6th International Workshop on EMC of Integrated Circuits - EMC Compo 2007, Turin, Italy, Nov. 2007, pp. 15-18.

[2] T. Hubing, S. Deng and D. Beetner, “Using Electric and Magnetic Moments to Characterize IC Coupling to Cables and Enclosures,” Proc. of the 6th International Workshop on EMC of Integrated Circuits (EMC Compo 2007), Turin, Italy, Nov. 2007, pp. 159-162.

[3] S. Deng, T. Hubing and D. Beetner, “Characterizing the Electric-Field Coupling from IC-Heatsink Structures to External Cables using TEM-Cell Measurements,” IEEE Trans. on Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 49, no. 4, Nov. 2007, pp. 785-791.

[4] S. Deng, T. Hubing and D. Beetner, “Using TEM cell masurements to estimate the maximum radiation from PCBs with attached cables due to magnetic field coupling,” IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, vol. 50, no. 2, May 2008, pp. 419-423.

[5] V. Kasturi, S. Deng, T. Hubing and D. Beetner, “Quantifying Electric and Magnetic Field Coupling from Integrated Circuits with TEM Cell Measurements,” Proc. of the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, Portland, OR, USA, Aug. 2006, WEPM-1-4.

[6] T. Hubing, D. Beetner, S. Deng and X. Dong, “Radiation mechanisms for semiconductor devices and packages,” Proc. of the 2004 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility - EMC’04 Sendai, Sendai, Japan, June 2004, 3A1-3.