High Frequency Modeling of PCB Interconnects with the Thin Wire Method: some Applications Test Cases

Due to the miniaturization of High Speed PCB design, and the application of carbon nanotubes (CNT), high frequency modeling of 3D electrical interconnects is fundamental to reduce the interference of common mode noise due to the crosstalk and radiation mechanisms. This paper describes a new high frequency extension of equivalent circuit approach named “Thin Wire Method” mainly based on RLC electrical decomposition into a cylindrical equivalent representation of PCB topology [6]. This equivalent electrical modeling provides an efficient EMC analysis of planar and multilayered board circuit configurations; and consequently, it can be extended to model the total losses of electrical interconnect of high speed design at high frequency band, more several Gigahertz [4], [5]. A theoretical description of these electrical losses composed of three main electrical parameters: metallic, dielectric and radiated terms will be focused, and implemented in the Thin Wire Method, and the equivalent cylindrical representation of microstrip [9]. On the other hand, a specific discussion about the electrical contribution of the radiated term introduced in an electrical representation by [10] will be given. Few electrical applications test cases will be simulated and compared with a different simulation methodology developed in [11] in order to estimate simulation time and computing resources gain. Finally the special case of nonuniform transmission lines using this equivalent cylindrical modeling approach will be provided, and discussed regarding the previous research works based on the perturbative analysis [12].