Development methodology: from system and design architecture to EMC improvement

This paper deals with the methodology to take into account conducted and radiated emissions from the early development phase: system architecture definition. Following the system analysis, the first design architecture is proposed, highlighting the potential noise sources. Detailed evaluation of all those noise contributors (frequencies, current slopes, topology...) leads to a new architecture which is compliant with EMC standards. In this paper, we describe this methodology and illustrate it with the development of a power management integrated circuit, dedicated to automotive business. We review each block of this integrated circuit and explain the design strategy used to reduce the emissions.