[SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions about interplane capacitance

  • From: "Chris Cheng" <Chris.Cheng@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Scott McMorrow" <scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:34:21 -0700

I think they are called PCIe I II III and FBDIMM. Or whatever RAMBUS called 
their latest .....
In any case, before we say the sky is falling, let's put things in perspective 
and consider your average memory controller, FSB IC package I/O power delivery. 
What is the typical signal to power/ground pin ratio ? What is the loop 
inductance of those package power/ground pins and die to package redistribution 
(or God forbid a wire bond) to signal multiplied by the signal to ground/power 
ratio ? How do those highly perforated package planes compared with your 80mohm 
PCB planes ? How does your average DIMM socket power/ground inductance looks 
like ? Or inductance of those cheap BGA package on DDRXX device ? If the signal 
edge can even be generated from your package I/O power delivery and goes 
through the package, chances are it will make it through your PCB reference 
plane PROVIDED you have at least a good reference ground plane with proper 
return vias and I/O pad return capacitance.
As usual, I am just a dumb lazy engineer who don't like to pay and do 
unnecessary things when I think the limitation is in other places.
________________________________

From: Scott McMorrow [mailto:scott@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Sat 3/15/2008 8:10 AM
To: Chris Cheng
Cc: istvan novak; steve weir; Joel Brown; SILR; Istvan Novak; 
si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions about interplane capacitance


Chris

Now tell the memory, processor and chipset vendors that and get their buy-in to 
switch from Single Ended to Differential data lines.



Scott McMorrow
Teraspeed Consulting Group LLC
121 North River Drive
Narragansett, RI 02882
(401) 284-1827 Business
(401) 284-1840 Fax

http://www.teraspeed.com <http://www.teraspeed.com/> 

Teraspeed® is the registered service mark of
Teraspeed Consulting Group LLC


Chris Cheng wrote: 

        There is a very cost effective way to eliminate signal induced plane 
resonance.
        It is call differential signal. Differential mode is orders of 
magnitude smaller vs. common mode noise injection into planes. 
         
        ________________________________
        
        From: istvan novak [mailto:Istvan.Novak@xxxxxxx]
        Sent: Fri 3/14/2008 7:31 PM
        To: Chris Cheng
        Cc: steve weir; Joel Brown; SILR; Istvan Novak; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions about interplane 
capacitance
        
        
        
        
        Chris,
        
        This seems to be one of those topics, which are governed by beliefs and
        it is hard to convince each other.
        
        The important thing is that people understand the physics behind the
        circuit and the way how various options can be used to solve the task. 
         From that point on it is the designer's responsibility to weigh the
        constraints and the options and to come up with a working design.
        
        Regarding plane resonances, you are correct in saying that if you do not
        excite them, they make no harm.  However, if there is a cost-effective
        way to eliminate them, I rather choose to eliminate the resonances
        rather than worrying that they dont get excited.
        
        Regards,
        Istvan
        
        
        Chris Cheng wrote:
        
          

                Ok, now we eliminate the claim that core power distribution 
needs fancy PCB planes and decoupling solutions at the PCB level.
                As you say if the core plane is used as reference planes, what 
controls your plane capacitance/loop inductance ? The impedance control for the 
stripline that they sandwich or your fancy power plane scheme ?
                This whole plane resonance also borders me. A few months ago we 
have already have long discussion here about a CAD tool vendor and another 
company's paper claiming plane resonances in simulation and measurement. As I 
have pointed out then and I will repeat again now, that was just a matter of 
via placement for signal return rather than real plane resonance. Both the 
measure and simulation conditions were set at an unrealistic condition to scare 
people into thinking there is a plane resonance problem. I have always maintain 
signal return issue on PCB is a matter of proper reference plane and return via 
placement, NOT fancy decoupling. If you shoot yourself in the foot and then run 
around claiming you need a fancy stretcher, I really have nothing more to add.
                
                -----Original Message-----
                From: Istvan.Novak@xxxxxxx [mailto:Istvan.Novak@xxxxxxx]
                Sent: Friday, March 14, 2008 6:31 PM
                To: Chris Cheng
                Cc: steve weir; Joel Brown; SILR; Istvan Novak; 
si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions about 
interplane
                capacitance
                
                
                
                Chris,
                
                You are right; if we speak about a single point-of-load CPU 
core power
                distribution, we *may* not need to worry about high-frequency 
behavior
                on the board.  However, as always, it depends.  IF your power 
rail feeds
                only the particular CPU core, AND you do not use those planes 
as signal
                reference, AND if you do not need to go through this plane 
cavity with
                vias of sensitive signals, all you need is a low-frequency 
design,
                because the connecting inductance between the board and die 
filters out
                the high-frequency noise.  However, when signal quality may be 
impacted
                by the plane resonances (for instance because the core plane is 
also
                used as a return plane), it is a good idea to make a design 
that creates
                a decent impedance profile up to the relevant bandwidth of the 
signal.
                
                Regards,
                Istvan
                
                Chris Cheng wrote:
                
                
                
                    

                        Steve,
                        What if the package of any IC act as a low pass filter 
that has a cut off at 100MHz or lower that seperate the fancy 80mohm PDN and 
the actual IC load ? What can all those highspeed caps and the transmission 
line planes do to help the IC ? At 100MHz or below, do I still need to worry 
about transmission line mode or just place the caps and regulator close enough 
and use a lump model ?
                        If I look at the power decoupling requirements of the 
latest highspped CPU's, I am not sure if they even border to ask for 100MHz or 
above decoupling caps on the PCB other than for filters ?
                        May be above 100MHz core power decoupling at system PCB 
level is not neccessary ?
                        I certainly have done a few that suggest so.
                        Chris
                        _____ 
                        
                        From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of steve 
weir
                        Sent: Fri 3/14/2008 12:24 AM
                        To: Joel Brown
                        Cc: 'SILR'; 'Istvan Novak'; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                        Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions about 
interplane capacitance
                        
                        
                        
                        
                        Joel, a driver pumping into an infinitely long, or 
ideally terminated
                        transmission line never sees a far end because no 
energy ever reflects
                        back.  A PDN that is arranged to look like an ideal 
infinite
                        transmission structure, similarly reflects nothing back 
to the load.
                        All the load sees is the characteristic resistive Z of 
the transmission
                        structure it is attached to.
                        
                        Best Regards,
                        
                        
                        Steve.
                        Joel Brown wrote:
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                I hate to prolong this but...
                                When I think about a transmission line in the 
normal sense (signal
                                propagation), A driver switches at one end but 
initially all it sees is
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        Zo
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                which looks like a resistor maybe 50 ohms and 
it does not even see the
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        load
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                until wave propagates the length of the line. 
So there is a time delay..
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        Now
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                think of the driver being the power pin of the 
IC and the load being the
                                bypass cap on the corner of the board or visa 
versa and I see a
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        propagation
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                delay, so what am I missing?
                                
                                Joel
                                
                                
                                -----Original Message-----
                                From: SILR [ mailto:silr@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
                                Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 6:27 PM
                                To: 'steve weir'; 'Joel Brown'
                                Cc: 'Istvan Novak'; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                Subject: RE: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: 
Questions about interplane
                                capacitance
                                
                                Joel asked:
                                <<< ...why is charge propagation velocity not a 
factor when the PDN is
                                purely resistive? >>>
                                
                                
                                Well, here's a crazy way to think about this 
(which I'm sure not
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        everyone
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                will agree)... I guess this would be like how 
Eric B. might put it...
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        "Be
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                the Signal"
                                
                                
                                I'm the charge on some corner of a 
board...there's an IC in the middle
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        of
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                the board...
                                
                                I have to get to that IC using this 
transmission line called the PDN.
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        If
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                this Transmission Line had the classical Ls and 
Cs (and Rs) to describe
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        its
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                characteristics, then that means I have to deal 
with changing EM fields
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        to
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                get to that IC...  but these time varying EM 
fields always cause some
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        delay
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                in my charge getting to that IC in a timely 
manner...
                                
                                BUT!!! ...if this Transmission Line had nothing 
but Rs (no Ls and Cs) to
                                describe its characteristics then that means I 
don't have to deal with
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        time
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                varying EM fields any longer...   I just have 
to deal with resistive
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        losses
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                only but this only equates to a drop in Static 
Voltage Potential and
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        nothing
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                more... (so keep the Z low!!!)  And I can get 
there (to the IC) in no
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        time
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                and the IC gets the charges that it needs and 
it wouldn't even know
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        anything
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                is different...
                                
                                Again, this is a crazy way to look at this... 
but it works for me, for
                                now... until I get grilled by the senior 
members...   :-)
                                
                                Silvester
                                
                                -----Original Message-----
                                From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [ 
mailto:si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        On
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                Behalf Of steve weir
                                Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 5:57 PM
                                To: Joel Brown
                                Cc: 'Istvan Novak'; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: Questions 
about interplane
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        capacitance
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                Joel,  it is transmission line theory.  Think 
about an infinitely long
                                signal transmission line for a moment.  At any 
instant a driver sees a
                                constant impedance across frequency.  The 
voltage to current relation is
                                independent of prior history.  What Istvan 
describes is a very low
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        impedance
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                transmission structure for power.
                                
                                Sadly, a lot of IC vendors are still playing 
catch-up in terms of  power
                                delivery.  If they had their game together, 
they would be telling you:
                                The actual voltage tolerances at the die, the 
current spectrum at the
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        die,
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                and the parasitics of the die and package.  
From that you could engineer
                                your PDN.  Instead often what we see are 
partial recipes like you
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        describe.
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                On a good day the recipes cost extra money.  On 
a bad day, they result
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        in
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                failures.
                                
                                One can build a resistive networks several 
ways.  One is to add discrete
                                resistance by any number of methods, another is 
to use the FDTIM method
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        that
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                Larry Smith has long championed.  And even 
though resistive networks
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        have
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                attractive qualities, reactive networks may 
still be cheaper and equally
                                effective.  It all depends on the 
circumstances.  It is somewhat akin to
                                surface finishes:  there is no ideal one.  But 
there are several that
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        when
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                used properly work very well.  One just needs 
to respect the limitations
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        of
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                each method.
                                
                                Part of the problem figuring this stuff out is 
having sufficient
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        experience
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                to judge trade-offs early in the design 
process.  That's just something
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        that
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                has to be learned.  As more training materials 
come out on power
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                        delivery,
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                it will probably get easier.  In the shameless 
plug department, we (
                                Teraspeed ) do very nice jobs optimizing power 
delivery systems for
                                customers.  If you've got a design you want 
advice on we can get you
                                squared-up pretty quickly.
                                
                                Best Regards,
                                
                                
                                Steve.
                                Joel Brown wrote:
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        Steve,
                                        
                                        So even though each cap has a 
relatively high ESR (1.6 Ohms) the PDN
                                        as a whole has a relatively low 
impedance which will result in low
                                        noise on the PDN. This goes against 
intuition and previous thinking
                                        that an IC needs a local bypass with 
low ESR and ESL to supply the
                                        needed charge during switching 
transients. I am starting to see that
                                        mathematically a resistive PDN lowers 
noise compared to one that is
                                        the inductive (you did a good job 
explaining that). The thing that I
                                        am having trouble grasping or
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                visualizing
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        is that why is charge propagation 
velocity not a factor when the PDN
                                        is purely resistive? Is the PDN model 
simply a resistor in series with
                                        the
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                load
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        and distance has no effect? Perhaps 
there is an analogy that would
                                        make
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                this
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        concept easier to understand? Also, 
when I see app notes from IC
                                        vendors that recommend using a 0.1uF 
and 1000pF cap on each supply pin
                                        and then instead I use distributed high 
ESR capacitors I feel like I
                                        am doing something quite different and 
contrary from the recommended
                                        and when I
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                query
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        the vendors on how they arrived at 
recommendations in the app note the
                                        answer I get is "we recommend that you 
do it exactly as shown in the
                                        app note, we know it works that way and 
if you don't follow it it may
                                        not
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                work".
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        Also I am wondering how all this 
relates to X2Y caps, I suppose they
                                        could be used with series resistors but 
that would somewhat defeat the
                                        purpose
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                by
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        adding inductance. Its not clear to me 
what approaches I should
                                        attempt on future designs.
                                        
                                        Joel
                                        
                                        
                                        -----Original Message-----
                                        From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                        [ mailto:si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                On
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        Behalf Of steve weir
                                        Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 11:26 PM
                                        To: Doug Brooks
                                        Cc: Istvan Novak; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                        Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: Antwort: Re: 
Questions about interplane
                                        capacitance
                                        
                                        Doug, Istvan's representations are 
analytically exact.  When the
                                        characteristic impedance of the 
transmission structure is high, and/or
                                        the rise times are slow then capacitors 
can be placed in close enough
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                proximity
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        that they load the transmission 
structure so as to make it appear a
                                        lower impedance with some little bumps. 
 For example if one had a 10"
                                        x 10" 4
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                mil
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        er4.0 board = 22.5nF and loaded it with 
bypass every square inch of
                                        150pH, then for slow enough signals, 
the distributed impedance would
                                        look like 80mOhms.  If the network were 
constructed from 200
                                        capacitors, an ESR
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                value
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        of 1.6Ohms / cap would make that 
impedance uniform down to the RC knee
                                        of the parts.  Assume that were matched 
by an AVP regulator of 80mOhms
                                        and
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                the
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        entire thing looks like 80mOhms from DC 
to over 1GHz.  80mOhms would
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                support
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        a 32 bit transition w/ about 5% droop.  
The impedance scales with
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                dielectric
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        height and the inverse square root of 
eR.  Scale the dielectric down
                                        to 0.1mils and now 320 lines can switch 
simultaneously in one
                                        direction with
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                5%
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        droop, and at arbitrary edge rates.
                                        
                                        Istvan has shown using analysis with 
the reverse pulse technique an
                                        inductive PDN shunt impedance acts like 
a noise high pass filter  (
                                        See DC papers from at least as far back 
as DC East 2005 ).  Put in a
                                        square wave noise pulse ( load current 
) and the leading edge changes
                                        by Vdelta = -L*di/dt below the 
baseline.  Allow the pulse to persist
                                        long enough and
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                the
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        system recovers back to the baseline 
which would be -I*Rpdn.
                                        Return the load current to zero, and 
now the energy stored in the
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                inductance
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        kicks back -L*di/dt.  The p-p noise is 
then 2*Ldi/dt -
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                        (Imax-Imin)*Rpdn.
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                If
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        Rpdn is very small then it approximates 
2*Ldi/dt.
                                        This behavior is apparent in the 
transient response plots of virtually
                                        any non-AVP VRM.
                                        
                                        Now, suppose that the VRM and PDN can 
be made to appear resistive
                                        right through Fknee.  Then the response 
to a current pulse of I is
                                        simply Vdelta
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                =
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        -I*Rpdn.  There is no component of 
di/dt, and so the total p-p noise
                                        is
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                just
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        (Imax - Imin)*Rpdn.  AVP schemes 
position the DC operating point
                                        intentionally high so that at Imin they 
are at their margined high
                                        limits and at Imax they are at their 
low limits.  This allows
                                        increasing Rpdn
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                while
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        still meeting the same current and 
voltage specifications.
                                        
                                        Best Regards,
                                        
                                        
                                        Steve.
                                        
                                        
                                        Doug Brooks wrote:
                                        
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                        Istvan,
                                        
                                        With all due respect, I would modify 
your argument a little bit. In
                                        very simplistic terms, suppose we need 
x amount of charge to
                                        transition from a zero to a one in one 
ns. That amount of charge (I
                                        suggest) must be within
                                        6 inches of the need (what I think we 
are referring to as the service
                                        radius). If not, it takes a little 
longer to reach the logical one
                                             
                                        
                                                
                                        
                                                    

                        state.
                        
                        
                          
                        
                              

                                        I look at it, not from the standpoint 
of a dip in the rail, as much
                                        as the ability to satisfy the rise time 
requirement (unless you are
                                        referring to a dip in the rail that 
occurs during the rise time
                                        itself.) In the slightly longer term, 
the charge will replenish
                                        fairly quickly, but not, perhaps fast 
enough to meet the rise time
                                        
                                             
                                        
                                                
                                        
                                                    

                                requirement.
                                
                                 
                                
                                    
                                
                                        

                                        Doug Brooks
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                             
                                        
                                                
                                        
                                                    

                                        Andreas,
                                        
                                        Yes and no.  It is true that charge 
moves with finite speed, so for
                                        any given time duration the charge has 
to come from locations closer
                                        than the ratio of distance over speed.  
BUT the whole notion of
                                        service radius is based on the 
assumption that as you deplete the
                                        charge available in the immediate 
vicinity of the active device, you
                                        have to wait for replenishment, 
otherwise you get a big dip on the
                                        supply rail.
                                        
                                        Having a matched
                                        transmission medium to deliver power to 
the active device, the
                                        charge moves without interruption, and 
as you deplete the planes
                                        close to the device, it gets 
replenished on the fly from areas
                                        further away, so the service area 
concept is pretty much meaningless
                                        in this scenario.  Current flows 
without interruption.
                                        The bucket brigade of infinitesimally 
small inductive and capacitive
                                        elements of the transmission line 
transmits the power continuously.
                                        If the load current changes, for any 
I(t) time function of load
                                        current, the transient noise at the 
load point will be I(t)*Zo,
                                        where we assume that Zo is the 
resistive and frequency independent
                                        characteristic impedance of the 
transmission medium.  This is a very
                                        simplistic one-dimensional model, but 
it gives a good insight of why
                                        the service radius matters only on PDNs 
where the network is not
                                        matched.
                                        
                                        Regards,
                                        
                                        Istvan Novak
                                        SUN Microsystems
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        Andreas.Lenkisch@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                               
                                        
                                                  
                                        
                                                      

                                        Istvan,
                                        I'm wodering a little about your 
comments to the service radius.
                                        Independant if the impedance is 
resistive, we have still a
                                        propagation time which would limit the 
service radius from my
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        understanding.
                                        
                                        
                                           
                                        
                                              
                                        
                                                  

                                        Do I'm wrong?
                                        
                                        regards
                                        Andreas
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        Istvan Novak <istvan.novak@xxxxxxxxxxx> 
<mailto:istvan.novak@xxxxxxxxxxx>  Gesendet von:
                                        si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                        11.03.2008 13:14
                                        
                                        An
                                        Joel Brown <joel@xxxxxxxxxx> 
<mailto:joel@xxxxxxxxxx> 
                                        Kopie
                                        si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
                                        Thema
                                        [SI-LIST] Re: Questions about 
interplane capacitance
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        Joel,
                                        
                                        Just one quick comments to the good 
summary from Steve:
                                        
                                        While considering planes and bypass 
capacitors in terms of
                                        effective capacitances and inductances 
is a valid approach, we need
                                        to keep in mind that focusing on the 
capacitive or inductive nature
                                        of parts without looking at the wider 
picture misses a very
                                        important and useful class of 
solutions, namely that of matched
                                        transmission lines.  As it was pointed 
out earlier several times on
                                        the SI list, the best
                                        (self) impedance for a power 
distribution network is a resistive
                                        one, neither capacitive, nor inductive.
                                        We can get resistive impedance from a 
matched transmission line,
                                        regardless of its capacitance and 
inductance, and in such cases the
                                        notion of 'service area' of parts 
become meaningless: you can put
                                        bypass components further away from the 
active devices without
                                        sacrificing performance.
                                        
                                        Regards,
                                        
                                        Istvan Novak
                                        SUN Microsystems
                                        
                                        Joel Brown wrote:
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        Interplane capacitance is frequently 
cited as the only effective
                                        bypass capacitance on a PCB at 
frequencies above 200 MHz.
                                        I am currently working on a design 
which brings up some questions
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        regarding
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        interplane capacitance.
                                        
                                        1. Power planes normally carry 
"standard" voltage rails that are
                                        used throughout a board such as +5V and 
+3.3V.
                                        High speed ICs usually have core 
voltages that are local to the IC
                                        and
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        are
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        provided by a local regulator which 
converts the standard rail to
                                        the
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        core
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        voltage (example 3.3 to 1.8V).
                                        The local core voltage is distributed 
on a plane area that is
                                        local to
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        the
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        IC and therefore is small in area (0.25 
sq in or less) which
                                        results in
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        a
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        very small amount of interplane 
capacitance.
                                        Is this very small amount of 
capicitance effective for bypassing
                                        the IC?
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        I
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        am sure it depends somewhat on the 
current waveform being drawn by
                                        the
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        IC
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        but this can only be estimated because 
semiconductor manufacturers
                                        do
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        not
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        provide current consumption profile as 
a function of frequency. To
                                        make matters worse, some ICs have 
several different VCC pins which
                                        the manufacturer recommends connecting 
to separate networks of
                                        bypass caps
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        and
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        ferrite beads. This cuts the power 
distributuion up even more
                                        resulting
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        in
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        less (practically zero) interplane 
capacitance. It is somewhat
                                        ironic
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        that
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        the the voltages such as +5V and +3.3V 
which are required at
                                        points
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        across
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        the whole board and therefore have the 
most interplane capacitance
                                        are
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        also
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        the voltages which have least 
requirement for interplane
                                        capacitance
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        because
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        they do not directly supply high speed 
rails.
                                        
                                        2. There has been a lot of emphasis on 
reducing the mounted
                                        inductance
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        of
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        bypass capacitors. Even with this 
reduced inductance they are
                                        still only effective up to several 
hundereds of MHz at which point
                                        the interplane capacitance becomes the 
only bypass capacitance
                                        mechanism. However there
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        is
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        inductance between the connection of 
the IC to the planes. This
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        inductance
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        consists of vias and package 
inductance. I did look for some
                                        numbers for package inductance and did 
not find much, it seems to
                                        be a closely held secret. Also it is 
unknown how much bypass
                                        capacitnace is internal to
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        the IC
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        package. Just for example if we assume 
250pH for the vias and 500
                                        pH for
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        the
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        package, then the impedance at 500 MHz 
would be 2.36 Ohms. This
                                        seems
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        rather
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        high for the interplane capacitance to 
be of much benefit.
                                        
                                        In summary how much interplane 
capacitance is needed to be
                                        beneficial,
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        and
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                 
                                        
                                                    
                                        
                                                        

                                        why is it beneficial given the 
inductance in the vias and package?
                                        
                                        Thanks - Joel
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                        
                                                   
                                        
                                                      
                                        
                                                          

                                        
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