The most powerful handouts for high-speed and RF circuit design

At very high frequencies, each trace, each pin, is an RF emitter and receiver. Without a carefully designed layout, interference signals can easily obscure the signals that designers want to deal with. The design choice is first considered from the overall situation of the architecture and gradually refined to sub-millimeter-level traces. There are some practically tried and verified techniques that can help manage such a process.

This document describes the practical problems of real system design and how to minimize signal attenuation in RF environments.

What advanced technologies need to pay attention to to achieve higher signal processing performance?

PCB layout

Schematic

Key component positioning and signal routing

Power bypass

Parasitic effects, vias, and placement

Ground layer

High-speed circuit performance is closely related to circuit board layout

PCB layout is one of the last steps in the design process and often fails to receive enough attention. The performance of high-speed circuits is closely related to the layout of the circuit board. Here we will introduce some practical layout principles that will help:

Improve the layout process

Helps ensure the expected performance of the circuit

Reduce design time

Reduce design costs

Good layout based on excellent schematics

Schematic basic functions

Indicates the actual circuit connection

Generate NetList for layout

Can it be more efficient?

Can you express the function more clearly?

Others can understand the circuit

Can I display the signal path?

Assist layout

Assist troubleshooting and debugging

Representation function

Can it be more attractive?

Increased cognitive value

More effective schematics speed time-to-market

Does the example look better?

A more complicated circuit

Just like real estate, location is everything

Input/output and power connections on the circuit board are generally established

The location and signal routing of components need careful consideration and careful planning

The use of plies

Hollowing of the slab

Signal wiring

Loop routing

a better way

Use the GND and PWR layers to reduce the loops R and L.

Use separate AGND and DGND layers to minimize the digital coupling of the AGND plane.

Functional division

Group functionally related components.

Place the function with the signal path.

First, the functional layout along the signal path is through input and output.

Then realize the connection between the functions.

Example

Two inputs. Both ensure balance.

Gain and feedback. Both ensure symmetry.

Output. Both ensure symmetry.

Level conversion access signal path. Both ensure symmetry.

Accessibility features.

The key signal path is as short as possible.

The critical signal path uses an alternate path to maintain balance.

Packaging plays an important role in high-speed applications

Small package

Better high frequency response

Compact layout

Lower package parasitics

Low-distortion pinout (dedicated feedback)

Compact layout

Streaming signal flow

Lower distortion

PCB design

Typical 62mil (1.6mm) 6-layer PCB Stackup

Silk screen

Printed assembly and/or component ID information.

Only provide information. Does not affect performance. not necessary.

Information includes text, lines, shapes.

If the location of the information is not carefully considered, the information will be useless.

Minimum line width = 5 mils (0.127 mm)

The ratio of the height of the text to the width of the line should be greater than 12 so that the text is identifiable.

Do not place text on vias, holes, or bond pads.

Keep a minimum distance between bond pads.

The quality of the products varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, and sharp edges to dirty are possible.

Shield

Protect the copper sheet from the environment.

Minimize Solder Bridging A careful design prevents bridging.

Affect the PCB performance to a certain extent.

No need. It plays a key role in extending the life of the PCB. Greatly improve PCB assembly yield.

Usually green, some other popular colors are black, blue, red, white.

Copper sheet

It can be a signal layer or a slab layer.

It is usually a 1.4 mil (0.04 mm) thick copper plate. Can be thicker.

Etch to form signal traces and bond pads.

The minimum trace width is 4 mils (0.1 mm).

The minimum space requirement between two objects is 4 mils (0.1 mm).

Compose with other copper plates nearby.

With inductance.

PCB material selection example

Isola - FR4 type

Common materials.

High-temperature version of lead-free soldering

High dielectric constant: 4.7-4.2. Generates high parasitic capacitance

Rated at 1 GHz

Controlled impedance alignment is acceptable but not optimal

Rogers - PTFE type

Good high frequency, high temperature materials

Low dielectric constant. 2.2 and above. Reduces parasitic capacitance

high cost

Good impedance consistency

Rated at 10 GHz

Many other manufacturers. Some vendor performance specifications are similar to the above.

Component Bonding Pad Design

Bonding pad size

Usually 30% larger than component pads.

Can use soldering iron

Visual inspection of solder joints

Accepts components with large positioning errors

Increase Parasitic Capacitance - Reduce Effective Usable Frequency

Increase the possibility of solder bridging

Need more board space

Minimum size exceeds the standard: 0-5% larger than the component pad.

Maintain mechanical strength

The contact area between the component and the PCB remains unchanged

Reduce Parasitic Capacitance - Maintain More Usable Frequency

Reduce required board space

Pad shape

Usually rectangular with sharp corners

The fillet allows the pad to trace spacing to be tighter. Reduce board size.

Signal wiring

Use GND and PWR

Use “pad via” method to connect pad to layer to minimize parasitic effects

Place the functional module components as close as possible

0.5 mm device spacing is sufficient for manual placement

Minimize the number of vias in the signal trace. The less the better

Ensure that the traces in the same functional module are on the same layer.

Bypass capacitors

Keep the adjacent layers as close as possible

Avoid unnecessary vias penetrating the board.

Avoid hollowing the board

Keep straight as far as possible

Minimize steering and turning as much as possible

Example

Performance and PCB

Performance and component location

Crosstalk and coupling

Capacitive crosstalk or coupling

Due to parallel traces from above and below, parasitic capacitance results

The solution is to run vertically to reduce trace coupling and area

Inductive Crosstalk

Inductive crosstalk originates from the interaction of magnetic fields between long distances and lines

Inductive crosstalk falls into two categories: forward and reverse

Reverse crosstalk refers to the noise closest to the driver on the affected trace

Forward crosstalk refers to the noise furthest from the driver on the driven line

Minimize crosstalk by

Increase trace spacing (Improved isolation)

Use protective traces

Using differential signals

Bypass is necessary to ensure high-speed circuit performance

Place the capacitor at the power pin

Capacitor provides low impedance AC loop

Provides local charge storage space for fast rising/falling edges

Minimize the length of the trace

Close to the load circuit

Helps reduce transient currents in the ground plane

value

Single circuit performance

Keep AC impedance low

Multiple resonance

Ferrite beads

Optimized load and bypass capacitor placement and ground loops

Board capacitance

Power layer capacitance

Capacitance model

Capacitor selection

Multiple shunt capacitors

Parasitic effects can cause performance degradation and distortion

Trace/pad capacitance and inductance

Internal or bottom plate

A spacer capacitor is formed with a power plane underneath (not shown).

spacing

A longer distance eliminates the interaction with the controlled impedance layer above it.

Controlled impedance layer

The traces of the top signal layer and the distance between the layers form a transmission line with characteristic impedance.

Top (signal) layer

Traces are transmission lines with characteristic impedance

With signal traces and component bond pads.

Top welding shield

Can affect the characteristic impedance

Via parasitic effect

Via placement

0603 and 0402

Capacitive parasitic model

C = capacitance

RP = Insulation resistance

RS = Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR)

L = inductance of the pin and board

RDA = Dielectric Absorption

CDA = Dielectric Absorption

Resistance parasitic model

R = resistance

CP = Shunt Capacitor

L= Equivalent series inductance (ESL)

Low-frequency operational amplifier schematic

High Speed ​​Operational Amplifier Schematic

High-frequency operational amplifier schematic

Parasitic capacitance simulation schematic

The frequency response when the parasitic capacitance is 1.5pF

Inverting input 1pF with parasitic capacitance

1.5dB spike

Instability, oscillation

Parasitic inductance

Parasitic inductance simulation schematic

Impulse response with ground plane and no ground plane

Oscillations show the effect of traces with a 2.54 cm length on the non-inverting input of a high-speed op amp

Its equivalent inductance is about 29nH, enough to cause sustained low voltage oscillation

Ground and power planes

Ground and power planes provide

Common reference point

shield

Reduce noise

Reduces parasitic effects

Cooling

Power distribution

High value capacitor

Recommendations for ground planes and power planes

There is no 100% effective single grounding method!

Each PCB must have at least one layer dedicated to the ground plane!

Increase the ground plane as much as possible, especially under high operating frequency traces

Try to use a viable thick metal (reduce resistance, increase heat dissipation)

Use multiple vias to connect the same ground plane together

When starting to design the layout, set up dedicated layers for the analog and digital ground planes and separate only when necessary

Follow the recommendations of the mixed-signal device data sheet.

Keep bypass capacitors and load loops as close as possible to reduce distortion

Jumper options for analog and digital ground plane connections

to sum up

High-speed PCB design requires careful consideration and attention to detail

Provide as much information as possible on the schematic

The position of the component on the board is as important as the positioning of the entire circuit

Design the layout of the circuit board to be predictable, do not hesitate

Use Multiple Capacitors in Power Bypass

Must consider and handle parasitic effects

Ground and power planes play a key role in reducing noise and reducing parasitics

New packaging and pinouts help improve performance and increase layout compactness

There are several ways to choose the signal distribution, remember to choose the applicable method

Be careful when checking layout

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