This document describe how IdEM can be used to generate a SPICE circuit simulation model from S-parameters using broadband macromodeling and netlist/subcircuit extraction, by ensuring safe use of models in system level EMC/SI/PI simulations. IdEM is an optional part of the electromagnetic simulation package CST Studio Suite from the SIMULIA brand of Dassault Systèmes.

The data rates of modern high-speed electronics mean that these are effectively high-frequency devices. At these frequencies, electromagnetic wave effects, combined with the 3D structure and non-ideal material properties of the component, can lead to signal integrity (SI) and power integrity (PI) issues that can cause a malfunction. Using simulation during the design process can help engineers to identify potential SI problems and mitigate them. However, such simulations are very challenging due to the extreme complexity of state-of-the-art high-speed applications. Hence, the key idea is to reduce the complexity of the initial model by deriving a surrogate one that is at the same time simpler but still enables an efficient and accurate numerical system level simulation. Such an approach is called “macromodeling” or “surrogate modeling” and can be adopted to model passive electrical interconnect structures such as packages, connectors, via fields, discontinuities up to backplane links and complete power delivery networks. In other words, macromodeling builds a link between the world of 3D electromagnetic simulations and circuit-level SPICE simulation. This paper will show how the IdEM software can be used to generate efficient surrogate models that are accurate, stable, passive, causal and that can be safely used in any SPICE-based simulation environment.

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