Identification of Dominant ICs for Electromagnetic Emission by Using Noise Source Amplitude Modulation and Correlation Analysis

To identify semiconductor devices that are dominant noise sources at low cost in order to reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI), we propose a method based on a noise source amplitude modulation technique and correlation analysis (NSM-CA). In this study, we applied the NSM-CA method to a printed circuit board (PCB) with multiple integrated circuits (ICs) and identified ICs dominantly contributing to EM emission. The switching currents produced in three of the ICs were modulated in amplitude with three different modulation signals. The noise source amplitude modulation was implemented in an FPGA, mounted on a PCB, by using three pseudorandom binary sequences (PRBSs) as modulation signals. During the modulations, EM emission was measured at frequencies where the emission exceeded the limit of EMI regulation. The temporal variation in the measured emission was correlated with each of the PRBSs. The ranking of the contributions of the ICs to the emission was determined by means of the resultant correlation coefficients. According to the ranking, the dominant ICs to which a combination of EMI reduction techniques should be primarily applied were identified. Moreover, we applied an EMI reduction technique to the dominant ICs and found a larger reduction in emission than when the technique was applied to low priority ICs.