Synthesized Compact Models and Experimental Verifications for Substrate Noise Coupling in Mixed-Signal ICs

Abstract

A synthesized compact modeling (SCM) approach for substrate coupling analysis is presented. The SCM is formulated using a scalable <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$Z$</tex> matrix approach for heavily doped substrates with a lightly doped epitaxial layer and using a nodal lumped resistance approach for lightly doped substrates. The SCM models require a set of process-dependent fitting coefficients and incorporate geometrical parameters of the substrate ports in a compact form that includes size, perimeter, and separation defined using the geometric mean distance to accommodate both far-field and near-field effects. The SCM approach is verified based on measurement data from two test chips, one in a custom lightly doped process and the other one using a 0.18- <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$muhbox m$</tex> BiCMOS lightly doped foundry process. The model accuracy is shown to be within 15% compared to measured data extracted from the test patterns. The SCM is exploited with application examples to show substrate model generation efficiency and accuracy at different levels of complexity, including a full chip substrate noise distribution analysis for a 2 mm by 2 mm chip with 319 substrate contacts.