Re: [SI-LIST] : effective dielectric constant as bulk dielectric constant error

About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: John Howard ([email protected])
Date: Mon Oct 30 2000 - 01:00:04 PST


Eric,
     Don't neglect the error contribution from FR4 anisotropy and
(for cheap FR4) inhomogeneity.
John
www.emcguru.com

Eric Bogatin wrote:

> Thank you all for your comments on my posting related to possible
> measurement error in TDR. The thread was moving toward predictability of Zo
> for microstrips, which, though an interesting topic, wasn't where I had
> intended to go.
>
> I was actual interested in the specific case of a board shop using a
> measurement of the time delay (TD) of a microstrip test trace to get the
> dielectric constant they would use for later Zo simulation.
>
> What they would measure from a microstrip is the effective dielectric
> constant, which could be as low as 3.8 for FR4, compared to the bulk value
> of 4.5. If they used 3.8 for their field solver predictions of Zo, even
> including trace thickness and solder mask effects, they would still be off
> by about 8-10% because they have the wrong value of the bulk dielectric
> constant. Not knowing this, it might cause them to question their tool or
> add some in-house fudge factors to get better agreement between what they
> simulate with their tool or favorite approximation and what they measure.
>
> In fact, their problem was interpreting the dielectric constant measured
> from the microstrip as the bulk value rather than as the effective value.
> Does anyone know of any board shops that might be making this effective
> dielectric constant as bulk dielectric constant error, or is it an obvious
> problem that is always avoided?
>
> thanks for your comments.
>
> --eric
>
> (ps- for those wondering about how well you can predict the Zo of test lines
> with a field solver, I have some papers on my web site that discuss this)
>
> Eric Bogatin
> BOGATIN ENTERPRISES
> Training for Signal Integrity and Interconnect Design
> v: 913-393-1305
> f: 913-393-1306
> e: [email protected]
> web: <http://www.bogatinenterprises.com/>
> ftp: ftp://ftp.BogatinEnterprises.com
>
> **** 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
****


About this list Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue May 08 2001 - 14:29:53 PDT