Chih-Wen Kuo

A Novel Time-Domain Approach for Extracting Broadband Models of Power Delivery NetworksWith Resonance Effect

Resonance noise, or power/ground bounce noise, on the power and ground planes of high-speed circuit packages is one of the main concerns of signal integrity or power integrity issues. A novel time-domain approach is proposed to synthesize the broadband models of the power/ground planes with resonance effect. Using waveforms either from measurements by time-domain reflectrometry or simulations by the finite-difference time-domain method, the time-domain step response of the planes is characterized with a pole-residue representation obtained through the matrix pencil method. Lumped circuit equivalent circuit models are then synthesized through the pole-residue representations. The synthesized model can accurately predict the resonance behavior of power/ground planes over a wide frequency range. These models can be efficiently incorporated into the currently available circuit simulator such as HSPICE for the consideration of power/ground bouncing noise in high-speed circuits. Three cases are tested to demonstrate the validity and broadband accuracy of the proposed approach.

Analysis of high performance RF integrated passive circuits using the glass substrate

This paper describes the design, modeling, simulation, and fabrication of wafer level integrated passive devices (IPDs). These IPDs, comprising of a resistor, capacitor, and inductor, have been developed in the thin-film and thick metallization processing technology on silicon or high-resisitivity substrate. The electrical equivalent model of the single component structures is presented for design and scalable modeling, and the accurance is demonstrated by measurement. The fabrication method, new circuit design and materials of these devices or substrate lead to improve characteristics suitable for application in high-frequency RF module or system. The fabricated balanced-BPF have insertion loss less than 2.0 dB with die size of 2.1 mm by 1.4 mm for band range (2300 MHz-2700 MHz).

A Novel Approach for Modeling Diodes Without Reducing the Time Step in the FDTD Method

A novel technique is proposed to incorporate diodes into the finite-difference time-domain method. The equivalent circuit of the diode is combined with Yees time-stepping equations to update the fields by solving a quadratic equation, without using the time-consuming iterative method at each time step. Two types of diodes connected at the end of a microstrip transmission line are investigated to demonstrate the validity of this method. Stability of the proposed method is demonstrated numerically and the accuracy is verified by comparison with commercial software ADS.

Design and characterization of power delivery system for multi-chip package with embedded discrete capacitors

An innovative embedded passive solution which directly embeds surface mount discrete (SMD) capacitor in the package substrate is presented. Comparing with embedded planar capacitor, the embedded discrete capacitor technology provides more design feasibilities for decoupling purpose. The capacitors can be placed underneath the chip to reduce the loop inductance. In this paper, characterization of embedded discrete capacitors in multi-chip package (MCP) is presented. The chip, package and print circuit board (PCB) co-simulation to well design the embedded discrete substrate is demonstrated. Power delivery system (PDS) performance is studied in both the frequency and time domains. The peak to peak noise in PDS has been reduced substantially through design and characterization methodology proposed.

Synthesizing SPICE-compatible models of power delivery networks with resonance effect by time-domain waveforms

A novel time-domain approach is proposed to synthesize the broadband equivalent circuit model of the power delivery network based on time-domain reflected (TDR)/transmitted (TDT) waveforms either through time-domain reflectometry measurement or finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulation. The step responses of the power delivery network are represented in terms of rational functions by the generalized pencil-of-matrix (GPOM) method. According to the step responses, the macro-pi model with each element represented by the optimum pole-residue forms is derived to model the power delivery networks. The equivalent circuits of the macro-pi model are synthesized by a systematic lumped-model extraction technique. The accuracy of this approach is demonstrated both in frequency- and time-domain.

Shielding effectiveness modeling and measurement of multiple layers conformal shielding on system-in-package (SiP) module

To suppress the electromagnetic interference (EMI) of advanced system-in-package (SiP) module, conformal shielding technology is discussed in recent years. Shielding effectiveness (SE) is the index to identify the performance of the shielding solutions. In this paper, generic equivalent transmission line method is proposed to deal with both metal and dielectric materials for multiple layer shielding solutions. This method is easy to implement by using arbitrary cascade network analysis. In this paper, sputtered copper/nickel case is studied. Also, near field measurement is employed to measure the SE performance and compared with the modeling result. It is demonstrated that both measurement and modeling results are in good correlation within 1 GHz range.

Electrical analysis of low distortion transmission design and stacking TSVs on silicon interposer

In this paper, the performance of GSG co-planar waveguide (CPW) type transmission line on silicon interposer and stacking memories by through-silicon-vias (TSVs) are analyzed. The high conductor loss of fine lines will cause the impedance varying with frequency and make the reflection loss minor. Furthermore the flat attenuation of such fine line will result in low distortion waveforms and have better jitter performance compared to conventional wire-bonded memory stacking and PCB routing design. Both frequency and time domain are discussed and analyzed.

Utilizing plating bar structure to enhance passive equalizer compensation technique

In this paper, an open-stub compesation technique is proposed for passive equalizers used in high-speed digital communication systems. By simply lumping an open-stub to the conventional RL-type passive equalizer, the frequency-dependent channel loss from the long transmission path can be compensated, the frequency response of the channel becomes more flat and the bandwidth is wider. Compared proposed passive equalizer with typical RL passive equalizers, the simulation result shows this technique can improve 1 GHz in the flat region of S21 on a 60cm long differential pair. This technique is successfully demonstrated the improvement of electrical performance about 57.4% on time domain.

Variational expressions of inductances of coupled annular rings

Variational expressions are presented for the self and mutual inductances of coupled annular rings for the first time. Two independent analytical procedures are developed to afford the variational expressions of inductance matrix and its inverse matrix. Numerical computations are performed by using the appropriate sets of basis functions, and they clarify the range of errors and show that the errors can be reduced systematically. Conductor thickness effect is also investigated.

Utilizing time-domain waveform to synthesize scalable SPICE-compatible macro-models of interconnectors

A novel time-domain approach is proposed to synthesize the scalable macro-model of the interconnectors based on time-domain reflected waveforms either measured by TDR or simulated by FDTD method. The step responses of the interconnectors are solved in terms of rational functions by the generalized Pencil-of-Matrix (GPOM) method. The macro- model in terms of the rational functions pairs is obtained through microwave matrix transformation. The equivalent lumped circuits of the macro-model are synthesized by a lumped circuit extraction method (LCEM). The regression analysis is utilized to construct scalable regression equations from equivalent lumped circuits of the macro-model. The stability of the extracted models can be preserved based on this time-domain approach and the macro-model topology. Two examples, one is an un-uniform transmission line in two-layer FR4 board and the other is a through via in four-layer FR4 PCB, are used to demonstrate the accuracy of the scalable equivalent lumped circuits of the macro-model.