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Power Integrity

Browse our library of resources to learn more about pcb design and power integrity.

12V DC Uninterruptible Power Supply I live in a rural village that tends to have intermittent power when there are high winds or storms. Because of this, my computers, servers, and network equipment are all on relatively low-cost, uninterruptible power supplies. These all run on sealed lead acid batteries and are not an overly efficient way to power a DC device such as a Raspberry Pi or internet router as the incoming mains. AC charges a DC battery, which then creates AC power Read Article

DesignCon 2020’s ‘Engineer of the Year’ Talks Power Integrity, Picosatellites, and Simulation Tools Istvan Novak, Principal Signal and Power Integrity Engineer for Samtec Inc. and winner of the DesignCon 2020 Engineer of the Year Award joins the OnTrack podcast to talk about picosatellites, simulation tools, and the rising importance of power integrity. Listen to the Podcast: Download this episode (right click and save) Watch the video: {"preview_thumbnail":"/sites/default/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/dUBig Read Article

Getting Started with PDN Analyzer To learn more about this topic please see the full solution - Getting Started with PDN Analyzer - at Altium.com. Download PDF

Better PCB Routing - Highlight Nets Regardless how many PCBs I design, I always find myself having to regularly review network paths on schematics layer and trace routes on PCBs. The complexity reminds me of a maze where only one path is the right one for a particular network. It is imperative that all the connections are accurate as errors made here will come back to haunt you later in the form of redesigns. The best way to ensure network accuracy is by isolating it so that each Read Article

High Currents and Higher Temperatures: PCB Design Tips for Heat Management I remember the first (and hopefully the only) time one of my circuits caught on fire. It started with the resistors and quickly spread to a nearby capacitor. Thankfully, the destruction was minor and most of the components were salvageable. Why did this happen you ask? No, this was not due to a short circuit. Very simply, I did not take into account the high current PCB design. As electronics continue to be miniaturized, the thermal demands in Read Article

Know the Power Dissipation Understanding power dissipation of an individual component, an electrical block, or even the whole electronics system is essential for electronics engineers. It is important not only to avoid exceeding the maximum limits of components but also to calculate unknown parameters in input or output sides because power dissipation is related to system voltage and current. In this article, I describe my practices for analyzing power dissipation in Read Article

High Voltage SMPS PCB Layout to Minimize Heat and Noise Whether you are performing AC-DC conversion or DC-DC conversion, switching power supply layouts are common in high voltage design and must be constructed carefully. Although this system is quite common, it will easily radiate EMI due to the fast changes in voltage and current during switching. Designers can rarely adapt existing designs into new systems as a minor change in one area can create an EMI problem that is difficult to diagnose. With Read Article

How to Select an Inductor for a Buck Converter An SMPS is one of those quiet (yet electrically noisy) devices that makes your favorite electronics run smoothly. They sit in the background quietly doing their duty, yet your board wouldn’t operate without them. As part of DC-DC converter design for power-hungry applications, component selection is quite important for ensuring stable power delivery to a load with high efficiency. Among the numerous DC-DC converter topologies, a buck converter Read Article

Debugging Power Supply Noise to Reduce Signal and Clock Jitter Low level components need ultra-stable power, and high speed digital signals need to have repeatable edge transition times. The two aspects of digital signalling are related, and you’ll need to suppress all aspects of power supply noise to reduce jitter in a digital system. During a design debug, you’ll need to gather measurements throughout your board if you want to isolate and eliminate sources of power supply noise. Here’s how you can isolate Read Article

How to Take a Phase Noise Measurement for High Speed Signals There are plenty of noise sources in your PCB, and phase noise can be one of those sources that is difficult to pin down in a real board. If you’re debugging a high speed board with high BER, then you’ll likely need to gather a phase noise measurement from the failing board section, or from your clock. Without getting too deep into the IC side of a system, phase noise may be an inherent property of the component you are using, such as the PLLs Read Article

How Do Capacitor Mounting Structures And Footprints Impact Total Inductance? In this blog article we discuss the inductance of the capacitor footprint along with the inductance of vias from the capacitor footprint to the PCB power planes. Read more. Read Article

Bypass and Decoupling Capacitor Placement Guidelines Power integrity problems are normally viewed from the perspective of the power supply, but looking at the output from ICs is just as important. Decoupling and bypass capacitors are intended to compensate power fluctuations seen on the PDN, which ensures your signal levels are consistent and a constant voltage is seen at the power/ground pins on an IC. We’ve compiled some important bypass and decoupling capacitor placement guidelines to help you Read Article

Is it Simultaneous Switching Noise or Crosstalk? How can you distinguish simultaneous switching noise and crosstalk? Take a look at the difference between these two signal integrity problems in this article. Read Article

Analog Signal Bandwidth and its Relation to Power Integrity Here’s how your analog signal bandwidth interacts with your PDN, and how it affects power integrity. Read Article

PCB Debugging: Tips, Tools, and Tricks There are some basic PCB debugging steps you should take when your new prototype has some signal integrity problems. Read Article

Optimizing Power Consumption Power efficiency—energy efficiency if you’re a purist—has become perhaps the highest-profile aspect of system design. This is especially true for IoT applications where a device may need to operate for years on harvested energy or a cell battery. Thus, a critical stage of design is power optimization. Typically, the first stage of power optimization is setting the power budget. For example, the system spec might state that the device has to be Read Article

EMI from Heatsinks and What You Can Do About It Selecting the right heatsink can help you keep your system cool and prevent EMI. While it may not be obvious, or while most designers may not think to check, heatsinks can generate EMI when they are connected to a switching element. This is a common problem in power supply design, and whenever a heatsink is placed in contact with a component that switches with high current draw at high frequency. Reducing EMI from heatsinks requires balancing the Read Article