When the PCB design is considered to be high speed

[Al Farouk]

Dear all
I'm asking for figers of merit to consider the PCB design to be high speed desin. i.e what are the limit of frequency of the signals carried by the tracks, the length of tracks, ....etc.

Regards

 

[mr_ghz]

Hi Al Farouk

What do you want to design: a digital or an anlog system? In which
frequency range should the system be working?

Bye

 

[Al Farouk]

It is digital design and the maximum frequency about 50 Mhz but I have about 6 layers.

 

[mr_ghz]

Hi Al Farouk,

generally you have to take attention to three things:
- The impedance of the trace is to match the impedance of your sender.
The impedance is given by the width of the trace, the thickness of your
PCB and the material (er) of your PCB. You have to take this in account
for analog signals with a frequency over 100MHz and for digital signals
over 100MHz. So this point is not as interresting for your design
- The impedance of the receiver should be the same as the impedance of
your sender, or you will get reflections. In digital designs this can cause
to problems, when the length of a trace is more than 1/10 of the wave-
length of your signal. On FR-4 the wavelength for 50MHz is about
3meters. So if you keep your traces shorter than 30cm, everything is
OK. If this is not possible you have to work with resistors that will
terminate your lines.
- The line-length of a bus system should match more or less. The phase-
difference on two bus-lines should be no more than about 10°. So the
length of these lines should match to about 1/36 of the wavelength,
this will give about 8cm max difference. This should also be a reachable
value.
It is to say that a design for 50MHz can be made without big problems if
you have proper VCC and GND (planes!).
These values I gave above are estimations!

Bye

 

[Al Farouk]

Dear mr_ghz
thanks for your valuable information. I want to discuss with you two points
1- Did you get the wave length equal to 3 meter for FR4 and 50Mhz by considering that the signal travel with have the speed of light on PCB board?
2- I read that the rise of the digital signal dominat the PCB design more that the frequency of it in case it had sharp edges. as sharp edges cause high frequency components if it is analysed by fourier. so I think the rule of that 1/10 wavelengh can be mre suitably applied for the rise time of the signal rather that the ignal frequency in case of sharp edges, so the 50Mhz design can be treated as high speed design. what is your main?

Regards

 

[mr_ghz]

Hi Al Farouk,

A signal propagates with the speed of light in a dielectricum with er=1.
When this value is increased, the speed lowers. FR-4 has an er of about
4, so the speed will be about half. The wavelength can be calculated:
lambda=c/(f*sqrt(er)). This will result in the given 3 meters. (These
values are true when you have a proper ground plane).
Fact is that a digital signal has not only the frequency itself (e.g. 50MHz),
it also has all overtones (100MHz, 150MHz, ...). This will give the sharp
edges. This frequencies do not carry (direct) information. This frequencies
are already taken in account in the 1/10 of wavelength.
The bigger problem of these higher frequencies is the radiated power. If
you have to pass an EMC test, this can be critical. Much CPU's can lower
the sharpness of their signals, this can help. Another possibility is to take
a metal housing...

Bye

 

[juggernaut7]

You may be selling yourself short by limiting your discussions to 50MHz. The clock frequency may be low, but it isn't the clock freq that causes a design to be considered high speed, it is the rise time of the device. A fast device (which pretty much all new builds are) will create a signal transition that propagates down the line much faster than 50MHz. You should evaluate your design based on the parts, not the clock frequency.

 

[binu G]

help

where i can get more information about the high speed design?

 

[wilson]

High Speed Design

Hello Binu
Here is a file which will give you a brief intro about High Speed Board Design.
Other Then this you can visit

http://www.signalintegrity.com/

a nice site to look at...

regards

Wilson

 

[popoyboys]

does anyone here have ebook entitled SIGNAL INTEGRITY & PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD DESIGN by Douglas Brooks?

 

[tarakesava]

when ever trace behaves as a transmission line in pcb,by the time we consider as high spped design.

1)whenever trace exceeds criticl length,by the time we consider trace behaves as a transimission line.
2)when rise time of signal is less than twice of the propagation delay of the signal to travel trace ,then we conisider trace exceed the critical length.

pls inform if any thing is wrong.

thx u

Added after 18 minutes:

Signal_Integrity_Issues_And_Printed_Circuit_Board_Design.rar by dougals brooks

 

[venkat_kvr]

if the length of the trace is grater than the rise time length,then u can consider ur board as highspeed

 

[hidelove]

I've questions for it , Does the trace length are really relate for EMI , becuase I seem many trace has equal the 1/4 lumda,but I can't see anything happening ,please explain why ~? Thanks !!

 

[AlexTien]

I think this book is great to read.



Signal Integrity - Simplified (Prentice Hall Modern Semiconductor Design Series' Sub Series: PH Signal Integrity Library) (Hardcover)
by Eric Bogatin (Author)

 

[panda14]

it depends on your rise time also, normally exceed 5% or 10% of lamba we can see the TL effects

 

[Thomson]

I think this book is great to read.



Signal Integrity - Simplified (Prentice Hall Modern Semiconductor Design Series' Sub Series: PH Signal Integrity Library) (Hardcover)
by Eric Bogatin (Author)

Five Star book on amazon and tells your much about signal integrity!

 

[Fom]

From "Electromagnetics explained" book:

5/5 rule
If any signal has a frequency greater than 5MHz or has edges faster than 5 nsec you should use ground plane.

 

[prasad5551]

hi
all concepts are given in the EMC and the printed circuit board by mark.I.montrose from ieee press,u can download from ebookee.com

 

[Timgonghe]

If 1/3 or more of your digital circuit speed excced 40~50MHz, we generally call it high speed.

 

[ar_m_in]

Nice info from diff people
thanks