Chip/Package/Board Co-Simulation Methodology for Crosstalk between DC/DC Converter and ADC Input Channels

In this paper a co-design methodology is proposed to investigate the crosstalk at package-level between the DC/DC converter and the sensitive analog-to-digital converter (ADC) analog input channels of a micro-controller for automotive applications. System-level simulations validated against measurement data confirm that the loop mutual inductance can be used to identify potential crosstalk issue via package nets coupling. Furthermore, a simulation approach at different levels of abstraction is proposed to estimate the rms-noise performance of the ADC when the DC/DC converter is enabled.

I. Introduction

Modern System-on-Chips (SoCs) have many digital, analog, and mixed-signal modules due to the ever-increasing complexity that makes their integration very challenging [1]. As the switching behavior (di/dt and dv/dt) of the chip signals increases due to higher clock frequency, the package and board effects start to contribute significantly to the overall system-level performance. Signal integrity is a main issue in package designs due to the parasitic effects of capacitive/inductive coupling between potential aggressor and victim signals [2].