One of today's challenges in power electronics is the need to comply with the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards. Due to the ever increasing switching speed, interconnect modeling becomes of major importance. This work shows that it is possible to perform accurate simulations of power converters by inclusion of a Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) model of the converter's interconnects. In this way, the conducted EMI noise level can be predicted with satisfying precision from circuit simulation. However, this kind of simulations tends to be very time-consuming, and can merely be used for the validation of a technological implementation of the converter design. The simulation results have therefore been interpreted, and the complexity of the overall-model has been reduced. Thus, a frequency-domain method for EMI noise prediction has been developed. This method enables the user to rapidly obtain the total noise level, the Common Mode (CM) noise level and Differential Mode (DM) noise level. The method can be used for converter design purposes. Both methods have been applied to a chopper implemented in Printed Circuit Board (PCB) and in Insulated Metal Substrate (IMST) technology. In both cases, the influence of a SMD decoupling capacitor on the conducted noise levels has also been examined.
