I'm not as concerned really about the exact number of effective pF as I
am the series reonant frequency (SRF). If the inductance remains the
same, the SRF increases when you decrease the capacitance.
SRF~1/[6.28*(Leff*C)^0.5]
If the SRF is outside my range of interest, then the capacitor will
still look sufficiently like a capacitor (low Z actually) so that I
don't have to worry about the resonances effecting the circuit. In
other words, I'll get the low Z supply and not get the oscillations and
suckouts in the frequency response that I'd get from a larger valued cap
with a lower SRF.
So yes, while I agree a 0.1uF cap will be an inductor @ 1GHz, a 100pF
will still look largely capacitive.
Ray brings up some points that perhaps explain the differences between
what we are seeing. Typically my designs are 2 layer RF boards with
coplanar lines. The "ground" is beside the signal/power line. That can
yield a MUCH higher mounted SRF than if you have a 4 layer board with
the vias to GND/VCC. I still see a reduction between quoted SRF's and
board mounted SRF's, but the difference is not as severe as when vias
are used. The difference in SRF's is only a couple X at most instead of
a couple orders of magnitude. So how much does using an 0402 help when
using > 2 layers since the PCB dominates the inductive parasitic?
-- --------------------------------------------------------------- Mark Randol, RF Systems Engineer | Motorola SPS, Inc. (602)413-8052 Voice | M/S EL379 (602)413-4150 FAX | 2100 E. Elliot Road [email protected] | Tempe, AZ 85284 ---------------------------------------------------------------**** To unsubscribe from si-list: send e-mail to [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE si-list, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu/si-list ****