Would a weak ground plane polygon affect my circuit?

Hi all,

I use Proteus ARES for my PCB designs. When i use a polygon for a ground plane and export the layer as pdf, i get lot of vertical lines in the polygon area instead of solid fill. When i zoom in/out, the vertical lines disappear and i get a solid fill. But when i outsource in to my manufacturer for fabrication, i still get the vertical lines on my board instead of solid fill. There is connectivity, but i feel the plane is weak. Will this vertical lines weaken the ground plane of my circuit?

I have attached the model images of the problem i have. Somebody help me out ASAP.

Hi,

maybe a wrong setup. the lines should rather overlap than leaving gaps.

This gives no good gorundplane.

Klaus

The slots, which is what they look like, will result in all kinds of problems with ground loops running all over the board. This isn't a ground plane.

That is a copper pour not a ground plane.
How are you sending data to your manufacturer?
What are the settings for the polygon fill?

It wouold suggest to me that too thin a copper code is being used, the d'code in the gerber need IMO to be thicker.

ads-ee said:

The slots, which is what they look like, will result in all kinds of problems with ground loops running all over the board. This isn't a ground plane.

Click to expand...

Is the procedure of taking ground connection from the polygon fill wrong..?

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marce said:

That is a copper pour not a ground plane.
How are you sending data to your manufacturer?
What are the settings for the polygon fill?

Click to expand...

I use the copper pour as ground.
I outsource data to the manufacturer as PDF and gerber as well.

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Mattylad said:

It wouold suggest to me that too thin a copper code is being used, the d'code in the gerber need IMO to be thicker.

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@Mattylad: Should i change it in any of my procedure or will it have to be done by the manufacturer.?

Hi,

I personally don´t rely on a PDF as data format for PCB manufacturing.

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Gerber is much better.

Is the procedure of taking ground connection from the polygon fill wrong..?

Click to expand...

I don´t know if the procedure is wrong. But the result seems to be wrong.
A true power plane is better than a copper pour. But a good considered copper pour may be almost as good as a true power plane.
(In former there were true "power layers". usually without traces. The data format was negative, with every flash/line generating isolation instead of conductive copper wires. This reduced the amount of data extremely. Nowadays nobody cares about some megabytes of data)

To test: Generate gerber data and use GCprevue (or similar gerber viewer software) to validate the data. If you see gaps, then you should adjust your PCB layout software.
If you don´t see any gaps, then it´s a problem of the PCB manufacturer.

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I recommend to give valid data to the manufacturer. In my eyes it´s on the designer to generate valid data. My manufacturer is adviced not to change my data, instead he should tell me what to change.
So i´m sure my data are up to date, and if i decide to change the manufacturer I expect no problems.

Klaus

I personally don´t rely on a PDF as data format for PCB manufacturing.

Click to expand...

I send PDF along with Gerber files.

A true power plane is better than a copper pour. But a good considered copper pour may be almost as good as a true power plane.

Click to expand...

I use the polygon as a ground power plane.

As it appears that you cannot output this with a thicker line then it appears that it is just a failing of the output process.

What output are you making? rs274 or rs274-x ?

What output are you making? rs274 or rs274-x ?

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I'm making the RS274X format..

So it should not be a misinterpretation of the apetures used.

I remember seeing copper like this when EasyPC did it, boards still came back OK - the manufacturer just filled the whole copper area.
Check with them.