VLSI System Design – ECES 681 Lecture: Interconnect -1 Prashant Bhadri Office: Rhodes Hall - 933C Department of ECECS, College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati

Noise What is noise? What is noise? – auditory experience of sound that lacks musical quality; sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound) auditoryexperienceofsoundthatlacksmusicalquality soundofanykindespeciallyunintelligibleordissonant sound auditoryexperienceofsoundthatlacksmusicalquality soundofanykindespeciallyunintelligibleordissonant sound – Electrical noise may be said to be the introduction of any unwanted energy, which tend to interfere with the proper reception and reproduction of transmitted signals.

External Sources External Sources – Atmospheric – Industrial – Extraterrestrial – Solar noise – Cosmic noise Internal Noise Internal Noise – This is the noise generated by any of the active or passive devices found in the receiver. – Can it be a transmitter? – How about on chip, in a system design, board design etc – How about on chip, in a system design, board design etc.

Chip Noise Circuit noise includes all the disturbances induced by the circuit’s topology. Circuit noise includes all the disturbances induced by the circuit’s topology. Interconnect noise includes noise coming from capacitive or inductive coupling between interconnects. Interconnect noise includes noise coming from capacitive or inductive coupling between interconnects. Power supply noise, which refers to deviations of the supply and ground voltages from their nominal values. Power supply noise, which refers to deviations of the supply and ground voltages from their nominal values. Substrate noise in mixed-signal integrated circuits: the charge injected in the substrate by the logic gates during the transitions may interfere severely with the operation of sensitive analog circuits. Substrate noise in mixed-signal integrated circuits: the charge injected in the substrate by the logic gates during the transitions may interfere severely with the operation of sensitive analog circuits. Reference: Bartolo’s Thesis, Chapter 1

Reference: Digital System Engineering

Shot Noise In a transistor the major contributor to noise is called shot noise. In a transistor the major contributor to noise is called shot noise. The formula for shot noise in a diode is given as: The formula for shot noise in a diode is given as:

Thermal Noise The noise generated by the agitation and interaction of electrons is called thermal noise. The internal kinetic energy of a particle can be expressed through its temperature. The kinetic energy of a body is zero at a temperature of absolute zero. The noise generated by a resistor, for example, is proportional to its absolute temperature as well as the bandwidth over which the noise is to be measured.

Any ordinary resistor not connected to a voltage source will have a voltage associated with it. If the load is noiseless and is receiving the maximum noise power generated by our noisy resistor then:

Flicker Noise Flicker noise dominates the noise spectrum at low frequency. Flicker noise dominates the noise spectrum at low frequency. Reference: Noise Sources in Bulk CMOS, paper by Kent H. Lundberg

Reference: Digital System Engineering

Other Issues Charge Injection Charge Injection Capacitive Feed-through Capacitive Feed-through

Problem Solution Charge Injection Reference: When the switch is on, the voltage across the sampling capacitor tracks the time-varying input signal within the bandwidth.When the switch is on, the voltage across the sampling capacitor tracks the time-varying input signal within the bandwidth. Some charges are present in the MOS channel, this is a result of forming a conducting channel under the MOS gate.Some charges are present in the MOS channel, this is a result of forming a conducting channel under the MOS gate. When the switch is turned off, charges either flow to the input source or to the sampling capacitor and create a small voltage which. is a function of several parameters which include input impedance, source impedance, clock falling edge, etc.When the switch is turned off, charges either flow to the input source or to the sampling capacitor and create a small voltage which. is a function of several parameters which include input impedance, source impedance, clock falling edge, etc.

Clock Feed-through When the clock voltage on the gate switches between high and low, this voltage. drop is coupled into the signal via the capacitor divider. The clock feed-through can be corrected to the first order by using a differential signal path. As long as the error is present on both signal inputs and the same magnitude, it can be cancelled by taking the input differentially. This technique, once again, depends on the absolute matching of transistors. Reference:

Reference: Digital System Engineering

How will you remove noise during the chip design phase?   Any Ideas ??

Noise Figure Used to assess the performance. Used to assess the performance. Additionally compares two devices in order to evaluate their performance + compares the signal and the noise at the same point to ensure that noise is not excess. Additionally compares two devices in order to evaluate their performance + compares the signal and the noise at the same point to ensure that noise is not excess. This term is used to describe how noisy a device is. This term is used to describe how noisy a device is. It is a ratio of the signal to ratio at the input to the signal to noise ratio at the output. It is a ratio of the signal to ratio at the input to the signal to noise ratio at the output.

Reading Assignment 1.Paper Name : Design Methodologies for Noise in Digital Integrated Circuits Author: Kenneth L. Shepard Department of Electrical Engineering Columbia University, New York, NY Website: