Spread spectrum parameter optimization to suppress certain frequency spectral components

The reduction of the electromagnetic emission more and more becomes a design factor to consider in the development of integrated circuits and electronic systems. Especially as switching frequencies and component density significantly increases, every opportunity to reduce the emission should be considered. In this paper it is shown how spread spectrum techniques can be used to reduce the electromagnetic emission. It is shown how spread spectrum parameters can be optimized in order to cancel out specific frequencies in the emission frequency spectrum and how these parameters settings influence the peak, average and quasi peak detector readings of an EMI receiver. Additionally the tradeoffs in optimizing spread spectrum parameters to achieve a certain reduction of the emission in a desired frequency range are addressed.