Early system noise analysis in mixed-signal silicon-on-silicon MCM systems

Abstract

Noise generated by digital circuit switching is a major challenge in designing mixing-signal systems. It is important to analyze the amount of noise prior to implementation so that appropriate design decisions can be made early to avoid performance and cost pitfalls. We project the power/ground noise and substrate coupling noise as functions of digital subsystems and technology parameters. The amount of switching digital circuits and their activities are accurately modeled. This can be used as an analysis tool to evaluate tradeoffs of different system implementation approaches and technology choices in the early design stage. This analysis is based on both single chip and silicon-on-silicon MCM mixed-signal systems such that the tradeoffs between a single-chip and an MCM implementation can be evaluated. Case studies have shown our analysis are in reasonable agreement with measured and detailed circuit simulation results.