Introduction to Electromagnetic Compatibility

Throughout the decades of continuous advances in semiconductor technology, from the discrete devices of the late 1950s to today's billon-transistor system-on-chip, there have always been concerns about the ability of components to operate safely in an increasingly disruptive electromagnetic environment. This paper provides a nonexhaustive review of the research work conducted in the field of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) at the IC level over the past 40 years. It also brings together a collection of information and trends in IC technology, in order to build a tentative roadmap for the EMC of ICs until the year 2020, with a focus on measurement methods and modeling approaches.

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The Electromagnetic Compatibility of Integrated Circuits—Past, Present, and Future

A theory of overall quantization noise for nonsubtractive dither was originally developed in unpublished work by J.N. Wright and by T.J. Stockham and subsequently expanded by L.K. Brinton, S.P. Lipshitz, J. Vanderkooy, and R.A. Wannamaker. It is suggested that since these latter results are not as well known as the original results, misunderstanding persists in the literature. New proofs of the properties of quantizer dither, both subtractive and nonsubtractive, are provided. The new proofs are based on elementary Fourier series and Rice's characteristic function method and do not require the use of generalized functions (impulse trains of Dirac delta functions) and sampling theorem arguments. The goal is to provide a unified derivation and presentation of the two forms of dithered quantizer noise based on elementary Fourier techniques. >

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel4/557/4025/00695075.pdf

Dithered Quantizers

An all-CMOS variable gain amplifier (VGA) that adopts a new approximated exponential equation is presented. The proposed VGA is characterized by a wide range of gain variation, temperature-independence gain characteristic, low-power consumption, small chip size, and controllable dynamic gain range. The two-stage VGA is fabricated in 0.18-mum CMOS technology and shows the maximum gain variation of more than 95 dB and a 90-dB linear range with linearity error of less than plusmn 1 dB. The range of gain variation can be controlled from 68 to 95 dB. The P1dB varies from - 48 to - 17 dBm, and the 3-dB bandwidth is from 32 MHz (at maximum gain of 43 dB) to 1.05 GHz (at minimum gain of - 52 dB). The VGA dissipates less than 3.6 mA from 1.8-V supply while occupying 0.4 mm2 of chip area excluding bondpads

A 95-dB linear low-power variable gain amplifier

The evolving global landscape for electrical distribution and use created a need area for energy storage systems (ESS), making them among the fastest growing electrical power system products. A key element in any energy storage system is the capability to monitor, control, and optimize performance of an individual or multiple battery modules in an energy storage system and the ability to control the disconnection of the module(s) from the system in the event of abnormal conditions. This management scheme is known as “battery management system (BMS)”, which is one of the essential units in electrical equipment. BMS reacts with external events, as well with as an internal event. It is used to improve the battery performance with proper safety measures within a system. Therefore, a safe BMS is the prerequisite for operating an electrical system. This report analyzes the details of BMS for electric transportation and large-scale (stationary) energy storage. The analysis includes different aspects of BMS covering testing, component, functionalities, topology, operation, architecture, and BMS safety aspects. Additionally, current related standards and codes related to BMS are also reviewed. The report investigates BMS safety aspects, battery technology, regulation needs, and offer recommendations. It further studies current gaps in respect to the safety requirements and performance requirements of BMS by focusing mainly on the electric transportation and stationary application. The report further provides a framework for developing a new standard on BMS, especially on BMS safety and operational risk. In conclusion, four main areas of (1) BMS construction, (2) Operation Parameters, (3) BMS Integration, and (4) Installation for improvement of BMS safety and performance are identified, and detailed recommendations were provided for each area. It is recommended that a technical review of the BMS be performed for transportation electrification and large-scale (stationary) applications. A comprehensive evaluation of the components, architectures, and safety risks applicable to BMS operation is also presented.

Review of Battery Management Systems (BMS) Development and Industrial Standards

The authors present a new analytical model that describes the nonlinear behaviour of common CMOS operational amplifiers excited by radio-frequency interference (RFI) added to the input nominal signals. The new model is a valid support to analogue integrated circuit designers since it expresses a relationship between circuit parameters, parasitic elements and the amplitude of the RFI induced output offset voltage of a feedback CMOS operational amplifier. The validity of model prediction has been verified through a comparison with experimental and computer simulation results.

Prediction of EMI effects in operational amplifiers by a two-input Volterra series model

The susceptibility to Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) of Battery Management Systems (BMSs) for Li-ion and LiPo battery packs employed in emerging electric and hybrid electric vehicles is investigated in this paper. To this purpose, a specif c test board is developed to experimentally assess the EMI susceptibility of a BMS front-end integrated circuit by direct power injection (DPI) and radiated susceptibility measurements. Experimental results are discussed highlighting different EMI-induced failure mechanisms observed during the tests.

Susceptibility to EMI of a Battery Management System IC for electric vehicles

An operational amplifier (opamp) input stage achieving a high degree of immunity against electromagnetic interference (EMI) is presented. Unlike previously proposed topologies, the novel circuit does not show any significant penalty in baseband operation. The effectiveness of the proposed solution and its robustness to mismatch and process variations is tested by simulations performed with reference to the AMS C35 0.35 µm CMOS technology.

Operational amplifier immune to EMI with no baseband performance degradation

In this paper, the mechanisms that lead to the conversion of common-mode (CM) RF interference (RFI) into differential-mode (DM) disturbances, which corrupt the information content of nominal signals and impair the operation of electronic systems, are investigated. To this purpose, distributed and lumped common-mode into differential-mode (CM-DM) conversion mechanisms are discussed with reference to a simple test structure that can be analytically described. On the basis of the proposed analysis, the origin and the relative impact of such mechanisms is highlighted and the detrimental effect of distributed CM-DM conversion on the effectiveness of differential RFI suppressing filters is discussed. Theoretical predictions are compared with experimental results.

Paolo Stefano Crovetti

Papers

Prediction of EMI effects in operational amplifiers by a two-input Volterra series model

Susceptibility to EMI of a Battery Management System IC for electric vehicles

Operational amplifier immune to EMI with no baseband performance degradation

Distributed Conversion of Common-Mode Into Differential-Mode Interference

Efficient BEM-based substrate network extraction in silicon SoCs