Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J.

Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Electromagnetic Interference and

Compatibility Techniques

Prof. M. Jaleel Akhtar

Department of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
2023-24-II

Kanpur – 208016 (U.P.)

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Frequency-Domain Inductive-Capacitive Coupling Model

 The inductive coupling dominates the capacitive coupling in the near-end crosstalk voltage in (24.a)

𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑫
𝑵𝑬 𝑴𝑪𝑨𝑷
𝑵𝑬 𝒊𝒇 𝑳𝒎 /𝑪𝒎 𝑹𝑭𝑬 𝑹𝑳

 The inductive coupling dominates the capacitive coupling in the far-end crosstalk voltage in (24.b)
𝑙 𝑙 𝑐 𝑐 𝑐
𝑴𝑰𝑵𝑫
𝑭𝑬 𝑴𝑪𝑨𝑷
𝑭𝑬 𝒊𝒇 𝑳𝒎 /𝑪𝒎 𝑹𝑵𝑬 𝑹𝑳 𝐿
𝑙 𝑙
… . . 5. 𝑎 𝐶 𝑐 𝑐 𝑐 … . . 5. 𝑏

1 0 𝐿𝐶 𝐶𝐿 𝜇𝜖𝐼 … . 8
𝐼 .. 9
0 1
𝑹𝑭𝑬 𝑹𝑳 𝑹𝑭𝑬 𝑹𝑳 𝑹𝑵𝑬 𝑹𝑳 𝑹𝑵𝑬 𝑹𝑳
< 𝟏 … . . 𝟐𝟔. 𝒂 < 𝟏 … . . 𝟐𝟔. 𝒃 𝒍𝒎 𝒍𝑮 𝒍𝑹
𝑳𝒎 /𝑪𝒎 𝒁𝑪𝑮 𝒁𝑪𝑹 𝑳𝒎 /𝑪𝒎 𝒁𝑪𝑮 𝒁𝑪𝑹 ≡ ≡
𝒄𝒎 𝒄𝑮 𝒄𝒎 𝒄𝑮 𝒄𝒎
 Inductive coupling dominates capacitive coupling for
 The characteristic impedances of each circuit in the presence of the termination impedances that are low impedances (with
other circuit are defined by respect to the circuit characteristic impedance). Similarly,
capacitive coupling dominates inductive coupling for
𝒍𝑮 𝒍𝑹 termination impedances that are high impedances (with
𝒁𝑪𝑮 … . . 𝟐𝟕. 𝒂 𝒁𝑪𝑹 … . . 𝟐𝟕. 𝒃
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𝒄𝑮 𝒄𝒎 𝒄𝑹 𝒄𝒎 respect to the circuit characteristic impedance).

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul
 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Crosstalk
Reduction
 There are two common methods for reducing the crosstalk For wire-type lines; replace the
generator and/or receptor wire with
 A shielded wire
 A twisted pair.

Shielded wires
Adding a shield around the receptor circuit wire to reduce
crosstalk

An infinite ground plane as the reference conductor is used to

reduce the crosstalk.
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Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

TWISTED WIRES

 Reducing crosstalk
 A twisted pair is the dual to a shielded wire in the
following sense.

 Replacing a receptor wire with a twisted pair and

using one wire of the pair as the return for the
receptor circuit inherently reduces inductive or
magnetic field coupling because of the twist.
 The twisted pair reduces capacitive coupling only
if the terminations at both ends are balanced with
respect to the reference conductor.
2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Shielding
The term shield usually refers to a metallic enclosure that completely encloses an electronic product
or a portion of that product.

 The major purpose of a shield is to prevent the

emissions of the electronics of the product or a
portion of it from radiating outside the boundaries
of the product.

 The basic idea here is to prevent these

emissions from causing the product to fail to
comply with the radiated emissions limits.
2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

 The second purpose of a shield is to

prevent radiated emissions external to
the product from coupling to the product’s
electronics.

 The shielding is thus also advantageous

in order to reduce the susceptibility of
the device to external signals such as
high-power radars or radio and TV
transmitters.
2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Shielding Effectiveness

 The effectiveness of a shield may be interpreted as the ratio of the magnitude of the electric
(magnetic) field that is incident on the barrier to the magnitude of the electric (magnetic) field that
is transmitted through the barrier.

 A shielding effectiveness of 100 dB means that the incident field as been reduced by a factor of
100,000 as it exits the shield.

 Hence, if the electronics product is surrounded by a shield, then the effectiveness of the shield
may be defined as the ratio of the electric (magnetic) field incident on the product with the shield
removed to that with the shield in place (insertion loss).

 In order to realize these ideal and extremely large values of shielding effectiveness, the shield
must completely enclose the electronics and must have no penetrations such as holes, seams,
slots or cables. Any penetrations in a shield unless properly treated, may drastically reduce the
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effectiveness of the shield.

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul
 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Shielding Effectiveness of a Conducting Barrier to a Uniform Plane Wave Incident

Normal to the Surface
SHIELDING EFFECTIVENESS (Quantitative)

 An electromagnetic wave is incident on this barrier. A

reflected wave is produced, and a portion of this
incident wave is transmitted through the barrier. The
shielding effectiveness of the barrier, in terms of the
electric field (magnetic field), may be defined as (in
decibels),

𝑬𝒊 𝑯𝒊
𝑺𝑬 𝟐𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 𝑺𝑬 𝟐𝟎𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎
𝑬𝒕 𝑯𝒕

 For example, a shielding effectiveness of 120 dB means that the magnitude of the transmitted field
is reduced from the magnitude of the incident field by a factor of 10 .
2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Multiple Reflections within a Shield

 There are several phenomena contributing to the reduction of the incident field as it passes through
the barrier.

 The first effect is reflection at the left surface of the

barrier. This phenomenon is quantified in terms of the
reflection loss (𝑅 ).
 As the wave further passes through this conductive
medium, its amplitude is attenuated according to the
factor 𝑒 , where 𝛼 is the attenuation constant of the
shielding material. This factor is referred to as the
absorption loss (𝐴 ) .
 For barrier materials that constitute good conductors (as is
usually the case) the attenuation constant 𝛼 may be
related to the skin depth of the material 𝛿 as
𝑡≫𝛿
1 1
𝛼 𝛿 where 𝜇 is the permeability of the barrier and 𝜎 is its conductivity.
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𝛿 𝜋𝑓𝜇𝜎
Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul
 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Multiple Reflections within a Shield

 A portion of this incident wave is reflected, and a portion is
transmitted across the barrier into the medium on the right of the
barrier.
 The reflected portion of this wave is transmitted back through the
barrier and strikes the first interface.
 Once again, a portion of this wave is transmitted through the left
interface and adds to the total reflected field in the left medium,
and a portion is reflected and proceeds to the right.
 This portion is again attenuated as it passes through the barrier.
 Once it has passed through the barrier and strikes the right interface, a
portion is reflected and a portion is transmitted through the right
interface.
 The portion transmitted through the right interface adds to the total field that is transmitted
through the shield.
 This is referred to as the phenomenon of Multiple Reflection (𝑀 ).
 If the barrier thickness is much larger than the skin depth, then the effect of
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multiple reflections would be minimal. Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Illustration of multiple reflections within a shield

 The shielding effectiveness can be broken into the product of three terms each
representing one of the phenomena of reflection loss, absorption loss, and multiple
reflections. In decibels these factors add to give

𝑺𝑬𝒅𝑩 𝑹𝒅𝑩 𝑨𝒅𝑩 𝑴𝒅𝑩

 where R represents the reflection loss caused by reflection at the left and right
interfaces, A represents the absorption loss of the wave as it proceeds through the
barrier, and M represents the additional effects of multiple reflections and
transmissions.
2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Solution for the Shielding Effectiveness: Far-Field Approximation Uniform Plane Wave

𝐸
𝐄𝒊 𝐸𝑒 𝒂𝒙 𝐇𝒊 𝑒 𝒂𝒚
𝜂

𝐄𝒓 𝐸𝑒 𝒂𝒙 𝐇𝒓 𝑒 𝒂𝒚

𝐇𝟏 𝑒 𝒂𝒚
𝐄𝟏 𝐸𝑒 𝒂𝒙

𝐄𝟐 𝐸 𝑒 𝒂𝒙 𝐇𝟐 𝑒 𝒂𝒚
𝜇
𝛽 ω 𝜇 𝜖 𝜂 𝛾 𝑗ωμ 𝜎 𝑗ω𝜖
𝜀
𝛼 𝑗𝛽

𝐇𝒕 𝑒 𝒂𝒚 𝑗ω𝜇
𝐄𝒕 𝐸𝑒 𝒂𝒙 𝜂̂ 𝜂 <𝜃
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𝜎 𝑗ω𝜖
Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul
 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

 The exact solution for the shielding effectiveness may be obtained by solving the equations given
on the previous page and applying appropriate boundary conditions on the field vectors at the two
boundaries z=0 and z=d.

 However, approximate solution for the shielding effectiveness may be obtained in much simplified
way by making following two assumptions:

 The barrier is constructed of a good conductor

𝜂≪𝜂

 The barrier thickness is much greater than a skin depth at the frequency of the incident wave

𝑡≫𝛿

 These approximations are quite relevant from practical considerations.

2023-24-II

Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul

 Lecture 24 – EMI Shielding Prof. M. J. Akhtar
EE 644A – EMI/EMC Techniques

Reflection Loss
 Assuming that the barrier thickness is much greater than a
skin depth at the frequency of the incident wave, the
portion of the incident wave that is transmitted across the
left interface 𝐸 , is greatly attenuated by the time it reaches
the right interface.

 Thus the reflected wave 𝐸 , when it arrives at the left

interface, is not of much consequence and so contributes
little to the total reflected wave 𝐸 , since it is also greatly
attenuated.

 Assumptions for approximate solution

 The portion of the incident wave that is transmitted

across the left interface 𝐸 , may be computed by
assuming that the barrier is infinitely thick and thereby
assuming 𝐸 0 for all practical purposes.
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Ref. Electromagnetic Compatibility by C. R. Paul