Re: [SI-LIST] : Decoupling between non-ground power rails, yes or no??

About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: Mike Hughes ([email protected])
Date: Mon Jan 22 2001 - 14:13:23 PST


If this is true, then isn't using adjacent power planes for decoupling also a
bad idea?

(PWR-PWR as opposed to PWR-GND)

Both planes are effectively GND to high frequencies. The main difference in the
2 decoupling schemes is the capacitance value. You would generally have more
capacitance using discrete components than you would get from the planes. So if
you used small valued discrete caps between the voltages, wouldn't it be the
same as using PWR-PWR planes? Is there a preference for using PWR-GND over
PWR-PWR planes? I've never heard that before.

Thanks,
Mike

Larry Miller wrote:
>
> This instability is not a surprise. Putting caps between the voltages
> introduces a lead term (treble boost) into the voltage regulator feedback
> loop which can raise havoc by pushing the loop bandwidth out farther than it
> was designed for.
>
> Offhand, I would say that this is overall a Bad Idea.
>
> Larry Miller
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Zabinski, Patrick
> J.
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 9:04 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: RE: [SI-LIST] : Decoupling between non-ground power rails, yes
> or no??
>
> Michael,
>
> Not exactly answering your question
> directly, but I did want to bring up one cautionary
> note.
>
> In at least two past board designs in our group, folks
> have decoupled power planes directly to one another
> (e.g., +5 to +3.3) in addition to decoupling them to
> ground. In both of these board designs, oscillations
> were found in the board. When we removed one set of
> decoupling capacitors (i.e., breaking the GND-to-3.3-to-5-to-GND
> loop), the oscillations stopped.
>
> We did not have the time to dig into the root cause,
> but I have since made it a rule to avoid having strong
> decoupling between power supplies.
>
> Pat
>
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I recently saw something on a design that I
> > felt was questionable and wanted to see what
> > your thoughts were, especially as there appears
> > to be a number of folks that have a focus on
> > PDS and decoupling.
> >
> > While in the process of performing a PDS analysis
> > of a new board, I noticed that there was a signi-
> > ficant amount of decoupling between the power
> > rails. For instance, there were caps between 5
> > and 3.3, 3.3 and 2.5, etc. From discussions,
> > it appears that this is there to facilitate
> > return currents.
> >
> > So the obvious question is, Is this accomplishing
> > what it is believed to be and is there in fact a
> > better way to do this. Is a properly decoupled PDS
> > (below target impedance through frequency range)
> > all that is required. For the sake of argument,
> > assume that all the planes are whole.
> >
> > Thanks for your opinions
> >
> > Best Regards,
> >
> > Michael C. Greim Sonus Networks
> >
>
> **** To unsubscribe from si-list or si-list-digest: send e-mail to
> [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE
> si-list or UNSUBSCRIBE si-list-digest, for more help, put HELP.
> si-list archives are accessible at http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu
> ****
>
> **** To unsubscribe from si-list or si-list-digest: send e-mail to
> [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE
> si-list or UNSUBSCRIBE si-list-digest, for more help, put HELP.
> si-list archives are accessible at http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu
> ****

-- 
================================
Mike Hughes   
Product/Test Engineer      
Analog Devices, Inc. 
Phone 781-937-2370
Fax 781-937-1011
================================

**** To unsubscribe from si-list or si-list-digest: send e-mail to [email protected]. In the BODY of message put: UNSUBSCRIBE si-list or UNSUBSCRIBE si-list-digest, for more help, put HELP. si-list archives are accessible at http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu ****


About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 08 2001 - 14:30:42 PDT