Analysis and simulation of complex interconnect structures and power/ground distribution networks in MCM and PCB´s

The analysis and modeling of complex interconnect structures and power/ground planes in multichip modules and printed circuit board systems are presented. Effects such as simultaneous switching noises and ground bounces have been increasingly limiting factors in the signal integrity and design of high speed digital systems. However, it is often difficult and time consuming to analyze and simulate those effects. In this paper, an integral equation boundary element algorithm is applied to the electromagnetic modeling of arbitrary interconnection structures. An efficient quasi-static approximation is introduced to simplify the complex frequency dependence while retaining the accurate AC characteristics. Equivalent circuits are extracted and utilized for the simulation of system transient responses. Efficient circuit simulators in both time domain and frequency domain are developed for the equivalent circuits. The equivalent circuits are then combined with signal nets or other external circuitry in system signal integrity analysis