Driven by applications such as telecommunications, computing and consumer/multimedia and facilitated by the progress in CMOS ULSI technology, the microelectronics IC market is characterized by an ever-increasing level of integration complexity. Today complete systems, that previously occupied one or more boards, are integrated on a few chips or even on one single multi-million transistor chip - a so called System-on-Chip (SoC). Although most functions in such integrated systems are implemented with digital or digital signal processing circuitry, the analog circuits needed at the interface between the electronic system and the continuous-valued outside world are also being integrated on the same die for reasons of cost and performance.

Unfortunately, the integration of both analog & RF circuits and digital circuits on the same die not only offers many benefits, but also creates some technical difficulties. Since the analog circuits exploit the low-level physics of the fabrication process, they remain difficult and costly to design, but they are also vulnerable to any kind of noise or crosstalk signals. The higher levels of integration (moving towards 100 million transistors per chip clocked at ever higher frequencies) make the mixed-signal signal integrity problem increasingly challenging. One of the most important problems is the parasitic supply and substrate noise coupling, caused by the fast switching of the digital circuitry that then propagates to the sensitive analog circuitry via the common substrate. It is therefore important to be able to predict the impact of digital switching noise on the analog circuit performance at the design stage of the integrated system, beforethe chip is taped out for fabrication, and to understand how this problem can be reduced.

The purpose of Substrate Noise Coupling in Mixed-Signal ASICs is to provide an overview of very recent research results in the field of substrate noise analysis and reduction techniques. Much of the reported work has been established as part of the Mixed-Signal Initiative of the European Union. It is a representative sampling of the current state of the art in this area. All the different aspects of the substrate noise coupling problem are covered. Some chapters describe techniques to model and reduce the digital switching noise injected in the substrate. Other chapters describe methods to analyse the propagation of the noise from the source (the digital circuitry) to the reception point (the embedded analog circuitry) through the substrate considered as a resistive/capacitive mesh. Finally, the remaining chapters describe techniques to model and especially to reduce the impact of substrate noise on the analog side. This is illustrated with several practical design examples and measurement results.

This book is the first in a series of three dedicated to advanced topics in Mixed-Signal IC design methodologies. It is one of the results achieved by the Mixed-Signal Design Cluster, an initiative launched in 1998 as part of the TARDIS project, funded by the European Commission within the ESPRIT-IV Framework. This initiative aims to promote the development of new design and test methodologies for Mixed-Signal ICs, and to accelerate their adoption by industrial users. As Microelectronics evolves, Mixed-Signal techniques are gaining a significant importance due to the wide spread of applications where an analog front-end is needed to drive a complex digital-processing subsystem. In this sense, Analog and Mixed-Signal circuits are recognized as a bottleneck for the market acceptance of Systems-On-Chip, because of the inherent difficulties involved in the design and test of these circuits. Specially, problems arising from the use of a common substrate for analog and digital components are a main limiting factor. The Mixed-Signal Cluster has been formed by a group of 11 Research and Development projects, plus a specific action to promote the dissemination of design methodologies, techniques, and supporting tools developed within the Cluster projects. The whole action, ending in July 2002, has been assigned an overall budget of more than 8 million EURO.