Electromagnetic emissions: IC-level versus system-level

The electromagnetic emission (EME) of integrated circuits (ICs) is very often the reason why an electronic system in which these ICs are implemented does not meet the regulatory limits and performance compatibility with other electronic devices. Even though, in the meantime, unified measurement methods at the IC-level are proposed in two standards, a so-called "missing link" exists between EMC measurements at the IC-level and system-level, respectively. Furthermore, no information is available on how to estimate the EMC behavior of an electronic system from the characterized EMC behavior of the IC which is used in the system. Besides a brief overview of some legal requirements and measurement methods at the system-level and the measurement methods at the IC-level, we present an approach to reduce the gap between the IC-level and the system-level by the calculation of the far field emissions from current measurements of IC pins on a printed circuit board (PCB).