In a message dated 3/8/2004 5:28:03 PM Pacific Standard Time, Chris.Cheng@xxxxxxxxxxxx writes: As for the BC comment, beside it being speculative, I can also make the top and bottom reference planes to be ground and therefore don't need any plane capacitance to provide the surface current to discharge. I overlooked this comment in my response of a few moments ago. For clarification, I too like to use reference planes on the available space on both top and bottom layers; however, my reference to BC to achieve tight high frequency coupling between power and ground planes is far from speculative. The broadband coupling forces all reference voltages and planes within which any given IC and its associated signals are operating to move in synchronism with any applied or induced common-mode voltage. Hence, the IC operating environment pertubation is the best one can obtain under the conditions of an ESD strike. Please recall that I stated earlier that BC is only one element of several complementary techniques that may be used in combination to meet a given design requirement. There are many cases where, with careful and knowledgable layout (as Chris has eloquently pointed out on many occasions), BC power/ground sandwiches are NOT required; however, the need for a low impedance, well-decoupled power distribution system (PDS) has been massively demonstrated in many threads on the SI List. BC is one approach that works well in this regard. I generally use BC construction in critical applications that justify the extra cost, which amounts to ~60% of my designs (for over 80 different companies). And, I use BC for a few more reasons than most designers to obtain extra margin in specific areas that are critical to a given design. Contrary to what one might infer, Chris and I are not in opposite camps, but design in overlapping areas. For example, one of my (extreme) consulting tasks involved designing PCBs, enclosures, interconnects and a grounding and shielding system for a compact, very lightweight application that required the system of three components to radiate over 60 dB less than FCC Class B levels. Mike Michael L. Conn Owner/Principal Consultant Mikon Consulting Cell: (408)821-9843 *** Serving Your Needs with Technical Excellence *** ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List technical documents are available at: http://www.si-list.org List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu