Analysis of EMI effect on flash memory IC

Due to the popularity of smartphones and panel computers, the layout and trace routing of circuits and components of consumer electronics products has become much denser with the miniaturization trend. In the meanwhile, with the urgent requirement of low power consumption, the operation voltage for electronic device is accordingly reduced. Therefore, EM switching noise emitted by unintentionally radiated sources (like digital integrated circuits) will severely interfere with susceptible devices via trace coupling or direct radiation, and thus result in the severe performance degradation of system or even system error. To achieve electromagnetic compatibility for smart phones at the integrated circuit level, it is important to measure and analyze the EMI emissions characteristics from ICs. In this paper, we will utilize the IC-EMI measurement standards IEC 61967-1[1] and IEC 61967-2[2] (TEM cell method) to investigate the behavior of EMI noise generated from flash memory usually embedded in smartphones. We will analyze the EMI noise radiated from flash under different operating voltages, command instructions, operating frequencies, and capacities. With this IC EMI characteristic behavior, IC manufacturers and their customers for system applications will benefit to achieve the product compliance in the early design stage.