Study of Voltage Regulator noise characterization, coupling scheme and simulation method

Abstract

Abstract² Signal Integrity (SI) and Power Integrity (PI) issues caused by on-board Voltage Regulator (VR) interfering always leads to system reliability problem. Prediction of this VR noise is very difficult due to its complexity. This paper addresses a twostep simulation method associated with this issue by identifying radiation source and coupling path. A typical PCB routing is studied and result is correlated with measurement.

VR noise analysis and reduction in printed circuit board designs

“…There are detailed discussions of VR noise source formation mechanism in [6]. Adding series resistor at FET gate can weaken the resonance at phase.…”

“…If measurement result is available, voltage / current source can be added according to the waveform. If it's before TO, a simple sine source can be added according to [6] to imitate the high frequency resonance at phase node as VR noise source.…”

“…There are detailed discussions of VR noise coupling mechanism in [6][7][8]. And the basic method of controlling noise coupling is to make spacing bigger, keeping signals / power shapes far away from the VR noisy parts, in all three dimensions.…”

“…EMI problems caused by switching VR have been widely studied [2][3][4]. And there are also some studies on impact of VR noise on SI [5][6][7][8] in recent years.…”