MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES FOR THE EFFECTS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE (EMI) ON INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICES.

The effects of electromagnetic interference EMI on microelectronic circuits were investigated on a component basis to establish a methodology for a practical measurement technique to determine these effects. This investigation resulted in the development of breadboard instrumentation capable of subjecting microelectronic devices to radiated electromagnetic fields, and procedures to define and measure the effects of these controlled environments in terms of the device parameters. Essential to the implementation of this program were 1 a thorough microelectronic device characterization, 2 classification and definition of electromagnetic fields, and 3 design and fabrication of breadboard instrumentation capable of generating these fields and radiating the microelectronic devices under investigation. The semiautomatic test method developed and test data obtained during this program utilized low-level generators in conjunction with low-level device parameters. This approach of using a low-level indicating parameter, such as inherent ambient noise of a device in the frequency domain, has provided the groundwork for predictive techniques to determine the effects of EMI on a devices response. Author