Vertical noise coupling on wideband low noise amplifier from on-chip switching-mode DC-DC converter in 3D-IC

3D-IC mixed-signal systems introduce vertical noise coupling which is a new noise coupling path by near-field coupling between logic ICs and RF/analog ICs. To guarantee the performance of the system, we should be aware of the amount of the vertical noise coupling during the system design stage. This paper reports the frequency-domain and time-domain measurement results of the vertical noise coupling on wideband low noise amplifier (LNA) from 200MHz on-chip switching-mode DC-DC converter in 3D-IC configuration. In the measurements from test vehicles with variations in stacking position and stack-up of the silicon substrate of the LNA, the vertically coupled noise is serious enough to obstruct the RF receiver operation; up to 80mVpp and 500mVpp of noise are vertically coupled across each inductor and at signal output of the LNA, respectively. The vertical noise coupling measurement results of this paper awake the seriousness of the vertical noise coupling issue in 3D-IC mixed-signal systems and can be a reference for the estimation of amount of vertical noise coupling in 3D-IC mixed-signal system design.