Modeling of Bulk Current Injection (BCI) Setups for Virtual Automotive IC Tests

The Bulk Current Injection (BCI) method is widely used for RF immunity testing of automotive systems and ICs in electronics industry. During testing detected IC failures may lead to expensive redesigns and cause seriously delays of a product launch. To evaluate the chip immunity in early design stages it is desired to perform virtual tests based on accurate models. In this paper an accurate and fast to simulate behavioural model of a BCI injection clamp is presented. The applicability is shown with an RF immunity investigation of a sample DUT. Several different configurations of the BCI test setup with different wire lengths and application-dependent line terminations are analyzed. Specific attention is paid to test setup configurations where supply and ground cables are subject of injection. The common and differential mode disturbances and PCB ground shifts are measured and modeled. The simulations show good correlation to measurements and allow performing RF immunity investigations of the designed DUTs on earlier design stages.