Analysis and optimization of substrate noise coupling in single-chip RF transceiver design

Abstract: The relentless move toward single chip integration of RF, analog and digital blocks results in significant noise coupling effects that can degrade performance and hence, should be controlled. In this paper, we propose a practical methodology that uses a suite of commercial tools in combination with a high-speed extractor based on an innovative semi-analytical method to deal with noise coupling problems, and enable RF designers to achieve a first silicon-success of their chips. The integration of the methodology in a typical RF design flow is illustrated and its successful application to achieve a single-chip integration of a transceiver demonstrated. The proliferation of Mixed-Signal-SOCs leads to two seemingly contradictory requirements on design methodology: on one hand, higher levels abstraction is needed to cope with the added complexity in design, while at the same time, the shrinking process technologie