Engineer-to-Engineer Notea

EE-253

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Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors
Contributed by Larry Hurst & Alberto Comaschi

Rev 1 – December 5, 2006

Introduction
This EE-Note describes power-decoupling requirements for boards that contain SHARC® processors. It is
intended to help system designers to calculate the total supply decoupling capacitance, choose thecapacitor values, and place the capacitors for optimal results. The end of this document includes asummarization of power-decoupling guidelines and a board design check list.
EZ-KIT Lite® evaluation system schematics provide a good starting reference. The design database for
SHARC processor EZ-KIT Lite evaluation systems, which is available online, contains all the electronic
information required for board design, layout, fabrication, and assembly.
Recently, processor core and peripheral clock frequencies have risen to well over 600 MHz, and switchingtimes have decreased to less than 800 ps. An increased emphasis in high-speed serial communications has
resulted in power supply noise frequencies well over 1 GHz. Processor terminal voltages have decreased
and currents have increased, representing significantly lower load impedances and making power
distribution bypassing even more difficult.
Due to these developments, a more aggressive combination of strategies is required to effectively bypass
the reduced power supply load impedances represented by current and future generations of processors.
The techniques used must consider not only the values and numbers of bypass (decoupling) capacitors but
also their physical location, mounting method, and their interaction with the PC board’s power and groundplanes. Taking these measures during the design phase will help you to avoid intermittent hardware
problems that can be very difficult to diagnose or cure once an application has been released to production(or worse, after thousands of units have been installed in the field).

Why Noise is a Problem
The external power supply pins form a common node for thousands of the transistors that comprise theinternal processor logic. These same transistors are used for gates, combinational logic, registers andcounters, delay lines, state machines, and other logic functions. Although operation tends to besynchronized by a common core clock or peripheral clock, individual components do not switch at thesame time due to differing internal delays. Some gates may still be switching while others have completed
the associated state change. An internal gate in the “high” state will pass noise from the power supply
through to the input of the following gate. If other inputs to the gate are still transitioning through their“undefined” input region, the noise on the supply pins may be amplified further by the gate and may
appear as a noise glitch at the output.
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aA single positive or negative noise pulse on the power pins may propagate through a gate and toggle thecontents of an internal register. Variations in operating temperature and manufacturing processes may
cause the problem to be extremely difficult to debug. It is better to design defensively and to eliminate
these problems at the start.
A further problem with power supply ‘noise’ is its negative effect on the jitter performance of oscillatorsand phase locked loops (PLLs) and delay locked loops (DLLs). Applications such as professional digitalaudio and high-speed communications depend upon low jitter clocks; minimizing power supply noise isessential to maintaining the fidelity of analog-to-digital conversion.
Most processors specify a nominal operating voltage tolerance, typically ±5% (see Figure 1). For
example, for a recommended VDDEXT of 3.30 V, the limits are VDDEXT(MIN) = 3.135 V and VDDEXT(MAX)= 3.465 V, or simply stated as 3.3 V ± 165 mV. Similarly, the nominal core voltage (VDDINT) is typically
1.2 V ± 60 mV, so that the voltage regulator must maintain the voltage between 1.140 V and 1.260 V.
Because these limits include both the DC supply voltage error and the peak amplitude of any noise, youwill need to account for deviation in the regulator output voltage by reducing the peak noise voltage.
A typical voltage regulator precision is ±2.5%; therefore, the peak noise voltage should not exceed 2.5%of the supply voltage.

VDDINT

VDDEXT

SUPPLY, V+3.465V(+5%)+3.383V(+2.5%)+3.300V+3.218V(-2.5%)+3.135V(-5%)

165mVpp+1.260V(+5%)+1.230V(+2.5%)+1.200V+1.170V(-2.5%)

60mVpp+1.140V(-5%)
NOTE SUPPLY VO LTAGE DROPS BELOW 5% LIM IT DURING
SWITCHING TRANSIENTS AND DURING HEAVY CURRENT
DEM AND CAUSED BY INCREASED PROGRAM ACTIVITY

Figure 1. Supply noise vs. permitted tolerance

As described above, the objective of good power supply bypassing is to keep peek noise voltage
amplitudes under 82.5 mV for 3.3V supplies (under 30 mV for 1.2V supplies) over the full frequency
spectrum, from DC to over one Gigahertz.
Minimizing power supply noise is necessary for reliable operation of the processor, and it also minimizes
electromagnetic interference (EMI) electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) compliance problems.

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aCalculating the Required Capacitance
Processor Target Impedance (VDDINT)The load represented by a processor is fairly complex. It depends on the processor’s operating mode
(for example, idle), clock rates, and code execution. Another load component is the high current and highfrequency spectrum transitions typical of CMOS processes that occur at the processor’s clock edges.
In order to maintain the voltage at the processor’s pins within its operating range, the power supply
system should have a target impedance proportional to the allowed ripple, load current, and voltage.
A typical case: ripple of 2.5%, VDD = 1.2 V, and current = 500 mA:
Target Impedance =VDD ( MIN ) * Ripple
I DD ( MAX )=1.2 * 0.025= 60mΩ
0.500[1]Because of the broad frequency spectrum of the load, a simple voltage regulator cannot be used to keep
the target impedance constant throughout the load frequency spectrum. Typically, the voltage regulator iseffective to about 100 KHz, and bulk capacitors are required to keep the target impedance in thefrequency range of 10 KHz to 1 MHz. Ceramic capacitors are required for frequencies above 1 MHz andinto the GHz range. Another effective high-frequency capacitor is created by the power planes. See
Figure 2.
Bulk Capacitors

High
Frequency

Power Planes

1K

1M

1G

Power
SupplyZ Target1

Figure 2. Flat target impedance vs. frequency, and decoupling elements frequency range

Calculating the Total Required Bulk Capacitance (VDDINT)You need to provide enough capacitance (generally described as “bulk”) to maintain the processor
terminal voltage during long duration step load changes due to voltage regulator delays. This may requirea detailed knowledge of the regulation characteristics; generally, assume that an external linear or switchmode regulator takes at least 100 µs to respond to a large change in load current. Sufficient storage
capacitance must be provided to prevent the supply voltage from ‘sagging’ during this delay. Allow adrop of no more than 2.5% in VDD (for example, 82.5 mV for a 3.3V supply, or 30 mV for a 1.2V supply.
To find the required, total supply bypass capacitance, treat the processor as a “noise generator” of aknown source impedance. Then determine the capacitive reactance necessary to bypass this source

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aimpedance, keeping the terminal noise voltage within the data sheet limits. This is sometimes referred toas “target impedance”. The difficulty with this approach is the ill-defined nature of the internal core load
impedance, represented by the processor; a conservative approximation assumes that the minimum
impedance can not be less than the minimum supply voltage divided by the maximum load current statedin the data sheet.
For a typical example for core supply: VDD = 1.2 V and current = 500 mA:
Z DSP ≥VDD ( MIN )1.2== 2.4Ω
I DD ( MAX ) 500mA[2]

If we know the processor’s supply tolerance (typically ±5%) and the voltage regulator accuracy andfrequency response (typically ±2.5% and 100 kHz, respectively), we can determine the minimum total
bypass capacitance within the limits for the processor, as follows:
C BPTOT =I DD ( MAX )F
2 f × ripple × VDD ( MIN )[3]

For example: processor core voltage (VDDINT) = 1.2 V, IDDINT = 500 mA. Hence, ZDSP ≥ 2.4 Ω and
ZTARGET < 60 mΩ.)C BPTOT ≥500( mA)µF
2 × 100( kHz ) × 0.025 × 1.2(V )C BPTOT ≥ 83.3µF

If the maximum change in IDD is known, we can determine the minimum total bypass capacitance.
For example, if the change in processor load current from IDD(MIN) to IDD(MAX) is determined to be
250 mA, the minimum capacitance can be found, as follows:
CBP (MIN ) = ∆I DD ×

∆t
∆VDD

F

[4]

where:∆I DD = I DD (MAX ) − I DD (MIN )∆t = Power Supply Response Time
∆VDD = Max Permitted Voltage Sag

Example:C BP ( MIN ) = 250 (mA) ×

10 ( µs )µF82.5 (mV )∴ C BP ≥ 30.3µF

The minimum total bypass/decoupling capacitance should be the greater of Equation 3 or Equation 4.
Another consideration in determining an effective bypassing strategy is the effect of the parasitic
inductance and resistance associated with component packages and mounting methods. Fundamental coreclock speeds are now well over 500 MHz with rise and fall times of switching transients under 800 ps.
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aAt these frequencies (100 MHz and above), the parasitic impedance of processor packages and bypass
capacitors are very significant and must be taken into account.
For example, the inductance of a 10-mm-long, 7-mil-wide copper trace is about 3 nH; this has a reactancegreater than 7 Ω at 400 MHz. The total mounted series self-inductance of a single 100-nF 0603 SMD
bypass capacitor is about 1.2 nH, resulting in a self-resonant frequency less than 15 MHz. Above 15 MHz,the capacitor reactance is inductive, and at 400 MHz, the total impedance is typically greater than 3 Ω andrising. A target bypass impedance of less than 60 mΩ will not provide effective bypassing.
A partial solution to this problem is to use a larger number of low value capacitors, ranging in value
between 470 pF and 100 nF. To maintain as low an impedance as possible (at as high a frequency as
possible), the number of capacitors of each value is varied inversely with their value, but the values
should not be separated by more than a factor of ten to minimize anti-resonance or parallel resonanceeffects. Even with a large number of capacitors in parallel, the impedance may still be too high at
frequencies above 500 MHz and the distributed capacitance of the power/ground planes must be relied
upon to complete the bypassing.
Decoupling the Analog Supply (AVDD / 1.2VDC)

The analog supply pin (AVDD / 1.2 VDC) powers the processor’s internal clock generator PLL. The load
represented by this circuitry is fairly stable; therefore, no calculations are needed for the bypass
capacitance. However, in order to produce a stable clock, PCB designs need an external filter circuit for
the AVDD pin. Place the filter components as close as possible to the AVDD / AVSS pins. For an example circuit,see Figure 3. (A recommended ferrite chip is the muRata BLM18AG102SN1D). To reduce noise
coupling, the PCB should use a parallel pair of power and ground planes for VDDINT and GND. Use wide
traces to connect the bypass capacitors to the analog power (AVDD) and ground (AVSS) pins. Note that the AVDD
and AVSS pins specified in Figure 3 are inputs to the processor and not the analog ground plane on theboard; connect the AVSS pin directly to digital ground (GND) at the chip.

Figure 3. Analog power (AVDD) filter circuit

Bypassing VDDEXT – Allowing for Output Load CapacitanceConsider a worst-case scenario where a 16-bit external data bus is switching all active output lines fromzeros to ones (i.e., 0x0000 to 0xFFFF) simultaneously. Assume that all data lines have 30 pF of total load
capacitance and that the output voltage on all lines must rise from 0.4 V to ≥2.8 V in less than 800 ps
Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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a(800 ps is a typical rise/fall time for processor data lines). Also assume that the external power supply(VDDEXT) is 3.3 V and has a maximum permitted droop of 2.5% (i.e., 82.5 mV).
tCHRG

∆QCH = n × C L × ∆VO = ∆QDISCH = C BYP × δVDDEXT =∫ i DDEXT (t )dt[5]0∴ C BYP =n × C L × ∆VO 16 × 30 × 10 −12 × 2.4(V )== 13.96nF
δVDDEXT
0.025 × 3.3(V )Although 13.96 nF does not seem to be a problem, we can be generous and allocate, say, four 1.0 nF
capacitors on each side of the processor package, yielding a total of 16 nF. The problem would be solved
with a small margin of safety. So, what is the problem? We already expect to provide several hundred
microfarads of capacitance to allow for the slow voltage supply regulator response time, so it can’t be that
13.96 nF is not enough.
Note that there is no term in Equation 5 for the actual charge/discharge time. The equation is merely aratio of charges based upon total capacitance and voltage change, assuming that the transfer of charge will
be complete when required. The equation does not account for the series inductance for component leadconnections or the resistance of the driver. This is a limitation of this method of calculation. Although thecalculated capacitance seems reasonable and practical for this particular example, only a limited amountof time is available to transfer the required charge. The output drivers see the total distributed load
capacitance during the rise time of the output signal. In order to preserve the fast rise times of output
signals, considerable thought must be given to minimizing the series inductance of all components.
Power supply pins on the processor must be connected directly to their respective power/ground planepins with vias located within the mounting pad itself or directly adjacent to the pad. As mentioned earlier,
avoid copper traces, which add too much inductance.
Medium value bypass capacitors ranging from 10 nF to 1 µF can provide the energy to maintain the
supply voltage for frequencies of 100 kHz to about 100 MHz. Above 100 MHz, the ESL of capacitors
10 nF and larger limits their effectiveness. A combination of low ESL and low ESR surface-mountcapacitors in the range 470 pF to 1 nF, mounted around the periphery of the processor or on the undersideof the PC board are the most effective.
Inherently, the PCB power/ground plane pair has very low self-inductance and significant distributed
capacitance and can supply the initial sub-nanosecond rise of current during the rapid turn-on of theoutput signals. It extends the bypassing regime from about 500 MHz to over 1 GHz. More will be said
about power/ground planes later.
High Frequency VDDINT Bypassing – Noise Generator and Equivalent Circuit

Consider a processor and its associated core (internal) power supply (see Figure 4) before adding bypass
capacitors. The nominal operating voltage is VDDINT(NOM), and the current is IDDINT(t). It is expected thatthe internal clock frequencies and associated harmonics will exceed 500 MHz. At these frequencies, thepower supply will maintain an average voltage and current, but the impedance of the power distribution
network and the slow speed of the voltage regulators will allow considerable transient noise voltages todevelop across the processor power pins. These voltages will be proportional to the instantaneous
impedance of the processor, ZDSP(t).

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a
IDDINT(t)DSP

VDDINT(t)Figure 4. Switched resistor approximation of processor noise model

The operation of the processor can be compared to a very large number of switched resistors distributed
throughout the IC, with the switching frequency and duty cycle of the switches constantly changing. This
generates a load current that resembles a “pulse-width” and “amplitude modulated” waveform resulting ina broadband noise voltage, VDDINT(t), across the processor terminals. The ‘impedance’ of the processor
varies from ZDSP(MIN) = VDDINT(MIN)/IDDINT(MAX) up to ZDSP(MAX) = VDDINT(MAX)/IDDINT(MIN).
Making assumptions about the statistical distribution of the impedance with time,
ZDSP(AVG) = VDDINT(MEAN)/IDDINT(MEAN). Since it is difficult to determine the absolute instantaneousand
IDDINT(t),assumeaconservative
approachandletlimitsof
VDDINT(t)ZDSP(MIN) << ZDSP(AVG) << ZDSP(MAX).
At very high frequencies, the power supply network behaves like a constant current supply; the transientnoise voltages developed across the processor terminals will have a statistical amplitude distribution
similar to ZDSP(t). Taking the minimum processor impedance, ZDSP(MIN) = VDDINT(MIN)/IDDINT(MAX) asa reference, a parallel shunt capacitor will reduce the noise voltage in proportion to the ratio of capacitive
reactance to ZDSP(MIN), hence:⎛⎞ ⎛ δ V DD
XC⎜⎜⎟⎟ ≤ ⎜⎜⎝ Z DSP (MIN ) ⎠ ⎝ V DDINT

⎞
⎟⎟
⎠

[6]

⎛ δ V DD1≤⎜
2 π f MIN C BP × Z DSP (MIN ) ⎜⎝ V DDINT⎞⎟⎟⎠⎛ δ V DD ⎞I DDINT (MAX )⎟≤⎜2 π f MIN C BP × Z DSP (MIN ) ⎜⎝ V DDINT ⎟⎠C BP ≥I DDINT (MAX ) × V DDINT(2 π f MIN × V DDINT × δ V DD )C BP ≥I DDINT (MAX )(2 π f MIN × δ V DD )F

As an example, assume an ADSP-21365 SHARC processor with typical operating conditions so that
VDDINT = 1.2 V and IDD(MAX) = 1.1 A, at a minimum core clock frequency of 100 MHz. This device isPower Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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aavailable in a 136-ball BGA package with 13 balls allocated to VDDINT. Let the required ripple factor (RF)be 2.5%; therefore, δVDD = 30 mV.
1.1⎛⎜ 2 × π × 100 × 10 6 × 30 × 10 − 3 ⎞⎟⎝⎠∴ C BP = 58.4 nF
C BP =

A practical choice would be to choose 16 capacitors, allocating four to each side of the processor package.
Note that we are not attempting to allocate a certain number of capacitors to each ‘ball’ or ‘pin’. Instead,
we are seeking to distribute capacitance around the periphery of the IC package uniformly.
C BP ( nF )
nF
n
58.4
C BP ' =16∴ C BP ' = 3.65 nF
C BP ' =Hence, use sixteen 3.9 nF capacitors.
Unfortunately, it’s not this easy! If we plot the true impedance of a 0603 SMD 3.9 nF capacitor over therange of frequencies of interest, taking into account the equivalent series resistance (ESR) and inductance(ESL), the true impedance above 300 MHz, is typically greater than 1200 mΩ and worsens as thefrequency increases. Sixteen 3.9 nF capacitors gives an impedance of approximately 75 mΩ, which isconsiderably more than the required 27 mΩ (k × VDD(INT)/IDD(MAX)), but is not low enough to guarantee thesupply noise to be less than 2.5%. Using twenty larger value capacitors (e.g., 10 nF or 100 nF) is worse
because of their higher ESL.
Fortunately, several factors come to our aid. First, instantaneous switching of all outputs does not
immediately connect the power supply pins to the output pins due to current limiting in the drivers andinternal self-inductance of the power supply and output signal bond-out and pins. Second, as frequency
increases, the contribution of high-frequency noise decreases as a fraction of the total noise on the power
supply. A third consideration is that the internal logic becomes progressively less responsive to noise as
the frequency increases above the transition frequency of the active devices. A final contributor (that takesover) is the extremely low characteristic impedance of the power/ground plane pair. For placement ofthese capacitors refer to PCB Layout and Capacitor Mounting and Capacitor Effective Bypass Radiuslater in this document.

How Much Bypassing is Too Little?
The discussion above presents the processor as a broadband noise generator with defined source
impedance and suggests a simple method of determining the number and size of bypass capacitors toprovide a low-impedance bypass impedance that will reduce the noise and ripple across the terminals. The
important consideration now is to determine a network of capacitors that will maintain this impedanceacross all frequencies of interest.
In the example above, the required total bypass capacitor impedance was calculated to be ≤ 27 mΩ.
Not only is this a very low impedance, but it is also difficult to maintain over a wide band of frequencies.
With processor core clock frequencies in excess of 300 MHz, the bypass network should attempt toPower Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

Page 8 of 21

amaintain this impedance from well below 100 kHz up to at least 500 MHz. (Typically, below 100 kHz, it
is expected that the voltage regulator will be effective.)
Capacitive reactance (XC) is calculated from the equation, 1/ωC; hence, at 300 MHz, for a reactance of
27.3 mΩ, it would appear that single capacitor of about 20 nF is all that is needed. Unfortunately, theinherent resistance and inductive reactance of capacitors require the use of multiple capacitors in parallelto achieve this low impedance.
The impedance of a single capacitor, where ESR is the equivalent series resistance, is given by thefollowing equation.
ZC (f ) =(ESR )2 + ⎛⎜⎜ω (ESL ) −⎝1 ⎞⎟(ωC ) ⎟⎠

2

[7]

Figure 5 shows a plot of the net impedance |ZNET(f)| of multiple surface-mounted capacitors listed inTable 1, assuming typical values of ESR and ESL, and including PCB via inductance. While not quite
meeting our specification for 27.3 mΩ, the mean value is about 40 mΩ, up to 300 MHz, and the additional
benefit of a power/ground plane pair (not shown) would further reduce the impedance over this frequency.
Note in Table 1 and Figure 5 that none of the individual groups of capacitors would have an impedanceclose to 27.3 mΩ, especially above 300 MHz; hence, the necessity for multiple capacitors in parallel. Also
note that above 100 MHz, 680 pF is more effective than 2.7 nF or 100 nF.
C020 × 680 pF, NP0 ceramic, assume ESL ≅1.2 nH, ESR ≅ 200 mΩ

C1

10 × 2.7 nF, NP0 ceramic, assume ESL ≅1.2 nH, ESR ≅ 60 mΩ

C2

12 × 10 nF, X7R ceramic, assume ESL ≅ 2 nH, ESR ≅ 150 mΩ

C3

8 × 100 nF, X7R ceramic, assume ESL ≅ 2.5 nH, ESR ≅ 50 mΩ

C4

4 × 2.2 µF, tantalum, assume ESL ≅ 10 nH, ESR ≅ 150 mΩ
Table 1. Net impedance of five groups of capacitors

Figure 5 shows the series resonant frequencies of capacitors C3..0 as indicated by the impedance dips at
10 MHz, 35 MHz, 89 MHz, and 170 MHz, respectively. The series resonant frequency of the 2.2 µF
tantalum electrolytic capacitor (C4), which is less than 1 MHz, is not shown. Above 200 MHz, theimpedance continues to rise and depends upon the low inductance and distributed capacitance of thepower and ground plane pair to complete the broadband low-impedance bypassing. The peaks in the
impedance plot, which are due to parallel resonance between adjacent capacitor values, is the main reason
why capacitor values should differ by more than an order of magnitude.

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a
10

1

Znet( f )

0.1

0.01

0.001
6

1 .10

7

1 .10

8

f

1 .10

9

1 .10

Figure 5. Example: capacitor net impedance magnitude vs. frequency

Although it would seem that it is only necessary to use a sufficient number of capacitors, of each value,
there are still a few other considerations to meet the 27.3 mΩ requirement.
One consideration is the parallel or anti-resonant impedance between capacitors of different values. In thiscase, the impedance can be higher at the parallel resonant frequency than the impedance of eachindividual capacitor and result in high-frequency ringing on the power supply. To eliminate thispossibility, capacitor values should not be separated by more than a factor of ten (e.g., 100 pF, ~1 nF,~10 nF, ~100 nF). Also, several electrolytic capacitors should be distributed around the PC board. The
effective “parallel ESR” of several smaller electrolytic capacitors and the load impedance of the processor
will assist in damping oscillatory behavior due to parallel resonance.
Other considerations including cost and available PCB area are also important drawbacks that limit the
number of capacitors that can be added. Adding too many capacitors may make efficient routing of signal
traces impossible.

Bypass Capacitor Notes
The choice for effective bypassing between 10 MHz and 500 MHz are multi-layer ceramic chip (MLCC)
SMD capacitors with X7R or NP0 (COG) dielectric. MLCC capacitors are readily available in a range ofstandard packages from several manufacturers. Other dielectric types are available, but they offer little
advantage or may have excessive ESR or high cost.
Table 2 lists the size and ESL of the SMD capacitors most likely to be used for high-frequency bypassing.
The ESL is for the capacitor only; vias typically add about 1 nH. Mount the capacitors as close to the ICPower Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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apackage as practical, although distances of up to 10 to 15 mm are not so critical as long as full dedicatedpower and ground planes are used.
EIA Size
Code

Length

Width

ESL

mm

mm

nH (typ)0402

1.00±0.05

0.50±0.05< 0.100508

1.25±0.15

2.00±0.15< 0.600603

1.60±0.10

0.80±0.10

0.87

0612

1.60±0.20

3.20±0.20

0.61

0805

2.00±0.10

1.25±0.10

1.05

1206

3.20±0.15

1.60±0.15

1.25

1210

3.20±0.30

2.50±0.20

0.98

Table 2. SMD capacitors for high-frequency bypassing

Of particular interest are the 0508, 0612, and 1210 SMD packages (shown in bold type), which have ageometry designed to minimize the inherent ESL and ESR of the capacitor. Sizes smaller than 0402 areavailable, but not all PCB assembly houses can handle them easily.
While choosing a decoupling capacitor, is also important to consider the loss of capacitance due to output
voltage dc bias. Figure 6 shows the loss of capacitance due to output voltage dc bias for selected XR5
MLCC capacitors.

Figure 6. Capacitance drop vs. bias for ceramic capacitors (source Murata Corp.)

NP0 (or COG) dielectric, which has an ESR of about one-fourth that of an equivalent X7R capacitor,
results in packages that are physically larger for a given capacitance. Consider the following:

Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

Page 11 of 21a

Manufacturers often quote 'Q' (or ‘DF’) (tanδ) at 1 kHz or 1 MHz, but the data is meaningless at
frequencies over 100 MHz. NP0 dielectric has the lowest losses (hence, lowest ESR), but may actuallypromote very high frequency ringing on the power supply plane due to its high Q-factor.

Generally, higher voltage and larger packages have lower ESR at resonance.



Generally, larger capacitors have lower ESR, but also have a lower self-resonant frequency due tohigher ESL.

Generally, smaller packages and shorter, wider, packages have lower ESL, but sizes smaller than 0603
become increasingly difficult to handle during assembly.

The 1210 package has a lower ESL and ESR than a 1206, 0805, or 1812 package because of its square
stubby shape.

Note that capacitors have particularly low impedance at their series resonant frequency (≅ ESR). Take
advantage of this fact by selecting capacitors that are ‘tuned’ to particularly troublesome EMI noise orclock frequencies

PCB Layout and Capacitor Mounting
Using surface-mount capacitors that have package configurations with the lowest possible ESL is only
part of the solution to effective bypassing, it is also necessary to ensure that the method of mounting thecapacitor does not add additional self-inductance.
To minimize the total self-inductance of the capacitor, care must be taken in the location of the connecting
vias. PCB traces have too much self-inductance and should be avoided. Vias can be located at the
opposite ends of the mounting pads, within the mounting pads, or on the sides of the mounting pads (seeFigure 7). The goal is to minimize the self-inductance of the mounting by reducing the loop area enclosedby the two vias. Placing the vias at the ends of the package is least desirable. An alternative is to place thevias on one side of the pads or, if room permits, use two vias on opposite sides of each pad.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!

BETTERTHE BEST!
SOLID VIA WITHIN PADEVEN BETTEREVEN BETTER STILL

Figure 7. Optimal placement of vias in PCB pads

Placing the vias within the mounting pad offers the lowest mounted ESL, but may contribute to assembly
problems, especially with hollow vias, due to entrapment of flux and air within the via. This can cause thecapacitor to ‘stand up’ during wave soldering operations. One solution to this problem has been the
introduction of solid (i.e., filled) vias; this is recommended as the ultimate in low self-inductanceconnections between bypass capacitors and the power and ground planes.
Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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a0603 SMD CAPACITOR(63×31 mils)
GND
PWR

1mm BALL PITCH

L = 10mm

Mini-BGA (17x17mm)

‘A’
FR-4

‘X’

hA = 12-mils = 4-mil
1.59mmhB = 46-mil (62-mil)‘B’

VIAS DIAM, d = 0.47mm (12-mil)
NOTE: DRAWING IS NOT TO SCALE

Figure 8. Comparing bypass capacitor mounting locations

Compare mounting a capacitor at location ‘A’ (see Figure 8) verses mounting it beneath the package at
position ‘B’. In location ‘A’, the total inductance seen at point ‘X’, where the processor connects to thepower and ground planes, consists of the horizontal distance between point ‘X’ and the position of thevertical vias, plus the inductance of the vias and terminating pads. In position ‘B’, the inductance is due
almost entirely to the height of the vias between point ‘X’ and the terminating pads on the bottom side of
the board.
In both cases, the inductance of the vias connecting the processor to the power/ground planes is the sameand can be ignored. Moving the planes closer to the surface on the processor side is advantageous. The
capacitor is a standard 1 nF X7R ceramic 0603 SMD with an assumed total mounted inductance (LMOUNT)of 1.0 nH.
Analysis of Total Inductance at Point ‘X’ for Capacitor at Position ‘A’

The total inductance (LATOT) is the sum of LMOUNT and the inductance of the vertical vias (LVVA) and theinductance of the horizontal planes (LHP). Thus, from dimensions in Figure 8, the inductance of a pair ofclosely spaced vias is given by:
1 ⎞
2 ⎛2
⎟ nH
LVVA = 5.08 × h A × ⎜⎜ −
⎟
d
C
L⎠
⎝
1 ⎞
⎛ 2
= 5.08 × 0.012 2 × ⎜
−
⎟
0
.
012
0
.
063
⎝
⎠
= 0.11nH

The inductance contribution of the horizontal distance enclosed by the planes is given by:⎛ 2L ⎞
L HP = 10 .16 × s × ln⎜
⎟ nH
⎝ d ⎠
⎛ 2 × 0.394 ⎞= 10 .16 × 0 .004 × ln⎜⎟⎝ 0 .012 ⎠= 0 .17nH

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aHence, total inductance for capacitor ‘A’ at point ‘X’ is:
L ATOT = LMOUNT + LVVA + LHP

nH= 1.0 + 0.11 + 0.17
= 1.28 nH

Analysis of Total Inductance at Point ‘X’ for Capacitor at Position ‘B’

The total inductance (LBTOT) is the sum of LMOUNT and the inductance of the vertical vias (LVVB):
1 ⎞
2 ⎛2
⎟ nH
LVVB = 5.08 × hB × ⎜⎜ −
⎟
d
C
L⎠
⎝
1 ⎞
⎛ 2
= 5.08 × 0.046 2 × ⎜
−
⎟
0
.
012
0
.
063
⎝
⎠
= 1.62nH

Hence, total inductance for capacitor ‘B’ at point ‘X’ is:
LBTOT = LMOUNT + LVVB

nH

= 1.0 + 1.62
= 2.62nH

Note that the inductance of the vias is influenced critically by the square of their length. Although the top
side capacitor at position ‘A’ is mounted farther away, it has less than half the series inductance of thecapacitor mounted on the bottom side of the board at position ‘B’. This means capacitors can be mounted
safely at a reasonable distance around the periphery of the processor package and need not to be mounted
directly underneath. This calculation is only an approximation because the effects of EM field fringing at
discontinuities has been ignored, but it does indicate the advantage of using closely spaced power andground planes and the effect of via inductance. Accurate results can be obtained by using 2-D or 3-D EM
field modeling software.
Figure 9 shows a suggested layout with sixteen 0603 SMD capacitors, for each of the VDDINT and VDDEXT
power planes, distributed around a 12-mm x 12-mm, 136-ball BGA package. The capacitors are spaced
approximately 1 mm from the edge of the IC package and allow sufficient room for two 5-mil signal
traces to pass between them. Note that using 0402 sized capacitors with more aggressive PCB layout
routing enable all signal balls to be brought-out to the top layer.
Multiple source termination resistors can be placed inside the bypass capacitor perimeter without
significant effect on the bypassing effectiveness, provided that power and ground planes are used.

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a
CRYSTAL(CS10)(CS1)

25 milADSP-21365
VDDINT
VDDEXT~15mm

12×12-mm BGA

AVDD
GND

680pF, 2.7nF,
0603 SMD CAPS
Figure 9. Example bypass capacitor layout for SMD 12x12 BGA package (not to scale)

For leaded packages such as the LQFP, locate power and ground vias at the “heel” end of the PCB leadpads rather than the “toe” end, as this will help to reduce the individual lead inductance by approximately
500 pH. This can also reduce the amplitude of ground bounce and supply dip problems.
Figure 10 shows a suggested PCB layout for an LQFP package. Note the compact layout around the
crystal/oscillator components and the location of the PLL AVDD supply bypassing components.

Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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aFerrite Bead to Isolate A VDD Supply

VDDEXT (10)10nF
(CS10)
2.7nF

100nF (Total 13)

680pF

680pF (27)

2.7 & 10nF (23)

109
108

1

VDDINT (32)
GND (39)

100nF

AVDD

20mm sq

ADSP-2136x

A VSS
PCB solder
pad & via
36

37

72

73

Figure 10. Example bypass capacitor layout for LQFP package (not to scale)

Capacitor Effective Bypass Radius
When a bypass capacitor is connected by short vias directly between the power and ground planes, it isuseful to determine the maximum effective bypass radius from the processor power pins. One approach is
to consider the propagation velocity (vP) of a wavefront traveling between the power and ground planes
and the corresponding wavelength at the series resonant frequency of the capacitor. To be effective up to
the series resonant frequency, mount the capacitor within 2% of a wavelength. The propagation velocity isgiven by the following equation.
vP =

c

εr

m

s

For a typical FR-4 PC board, εr is ~4.2, so vP is about 146 ×106 m/s. The wavelength within the
power/ground planes is given by:
vP
146× 10 3
λ==f SR
f SR ( MHz )∴ r ≈ 0.02 × λ =mm

2.92 × 10 3
f SR ( MHz )mm

For a typical 0603 SMD 470-pF capacitor, the mounted resonant frequency (fSR) is about 300 MHz; hence,
λ = 487 mm, and the capacitor should be located within ~9.7 mm of the processor power pins to beeffective. Equal value or larger capacitors are no more effective when mounted closer than this distance.
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aFor example, a 10-nF 0603 SMD capacitor has an fSR of about 30 MHz; hence, it is recommended that the
maximum mounting distance be about 97 mm (~ 3.8 inches) from the power pins.
This means that not all capacitors have to be mounted alongside the processor power pins and provides
you latitude in placement to allow for high track densities near the processor. This reasoning applies only
when the capacitor is connected directly to the power and ground planes by short vias.

What Effect a Plane or Two?
As an approximate guide, PCB traces and vias add inductance at a rate of about 1 nH/mm. The loop
inductance between two points on a parallel pair of copper planes, due only to the planes themselves, isdirectly proportional to the distance between the planes and is as low as it is possible to make it.
The power and ground pins of the processor package and the bypass capacitors should be connected totheir respective planes by the most direct vias possible, in order to take advantage of the low loop
inductance of the planes. Generally, this means locating the via within the component’s mounting pad.
For BGA packages, this is not recommended usually because of assembly difficulties, but the via shouldstill be located within half the diagonal pitch of the ball array.
Though the main advantage of a power/ground plane pair is the reduction in inductance, the two parallel
planes form a very effective high-frequency capacitor with very low ESL. The capacitance can be
estimated from the following equation.
ε ε A
CP = 0 rFdwhere:
ε 0 = 8.854 pF
ε r = 4.2m

( permittivity of free space )(relative permittivity for FR− 4 dielectric )A = area, m 2
d = separation, m

For a typical multi-layer FR-4 board with a separation distance of 4 mils between the inner power andground planes, the distributed capacitance is ~360 nF/m2 (or 240 pF/in2), as shown below.
CP =8.854 × 4.2
pF
0.004 × 0.0254
m2∴ CP =

1464.1≅ 366
4(mils )nF

m2

For a small 3” x 4” PC board, this represents about 2.9 nF of extremely effective, low-inductance bypass
capacity that is effective up to at least 1 GHz.

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aAt the same time, the inductance of a pair of parallel planes is already extremely low, and is reduced evenfurther as spacing is reduced. In the absence of high-permeability material, inductance is given by thefollowing equation:
LP = µ 0 × d H / sq

where:µ 0 = 4π 10 −7 Hm

( permeability of free space )d = separation, mUsing the same PC board with 4-mil spacing, the inductance of the planes is:
LP = 10.16π × 4(mils ) pH / sq
LP = 127.7 pH / sq

Note that the contribution of the plane inductance is much less than for discrete copper traces or vias
connecting surface mounted capacitors, which is typically > 1 nH.
At frequencies above approximately 500 MHz, the power and ground planes become more effective thanmultiple discrete capacitors. Some PC board fabricators offer power/ground spacing as close as 2 mils
with FR-4 material and special high-permittivity dielectrics such as 3M’s C-Ply that allows power/groundspacing as close as 8 µm, to increase the capacitance and reduce inductance even further. The
effectiveness of a PC board’s power/ground planes at distributing capacitance and inductance should not
be compromised by adding ‘slots’ or removing areas of the copper unless these modifications have beenshown to be effective by prototype measurements or by using a 3-D EM field solver.
Another feature of power/ground plane pairs is their inherent low-characteristic impedance above theircutoff frequency. For a typical pair of planes, the impedance is given by:Z0 =120π × d ( m )

εR

=

LP
CP

Ω

For the example above,
Z0 =127.7 × 10 −12366.01 × 10 − 9Ω

Z 0 = 18.7 mΩ

Above the cut-off frequency for a parallel power/ground plane pair, this is probably the lowest realizable
impedance that can be achieved. This assumes that the board extends infinitely in all directions. In
practice the board has finite dimensions that lead to modal resonances because of reflections from the‘open’ edges. This will cause localized areas of greater or lesser impedance than that indicated by theabove equation.

Power Bypass Decoupling of SHARC® Processors (EE-253)

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aGuidelines and Checklist
The following guidelines are derived from the preceding discussion.
1.

Good power distribution bypassing ensures not only more reliable operation of the processor but also
helps to minimize ground bounce, signal integrity, and EMI problems.

2.

Use sufficient capacity to allow for low-frequency (i.e., 1 kHz to 100 kHz), program-dependent,
current demands. Several 47 µF electrolytic capacitors are suggested, but it will depend upon theapplication.

3.

Place several medium-value electrolytic capacitors around the board to provide damping andmedium-frequency (i.e., 100 kHz to 1 MHz) bypassing. Suggested values are 1 µF to 10 µF.

4.

Use a range of small-SMD, low-ESL, low-ESR capacitor values with proportionately smaller values
than larger for high-frequency bypassing. Capacitor values should not be more than a factor of ten
between each value. Suggested values include 470 pF, 2.7 nF, 10 nF, and 100 nF.

5.

Use full power/ground plane pairs and distribute 2.7 nF to 10 nF bypass capacitors evenly across theplanes at a distance of about one capacitor per approx 400 mm2 to provide high-frequency(i.e., > 100 MHz) current demands.

6.

Use minimal spacing between the power and ground planes to minimize their inductance. As an
added benefit, this also maximizes capacitance.

7.

Locate the power/ground planes close to the component surface. (Note: because of physical problems
with temperature warping, copper plane pairs are normally fabricated in dual pairs that are locatedsymmetrically about the center of the PC board, stack up.)8.

For critical applications, use ‘optimized’ SMD capacitor packages such as size 0508 and 0612.

9.

Minimize the contribution of via inductance by locating them within the capacitor PCB mounting
pads. If this is not possible (because of assembly limitations), locate them on one side of the pad.

10. For ‘busy areas’ such as processor packages, use multiple capacitors spaced evenly around the
periphery of the IC package.
11. Locate bypass capacitors on the same side as the processor, assuming the power/ground plane pair islocated closer to the component side of the PC board where the processor is mounted.
12. Beware of critical PC board dimensions that might stimulate modal resonances, especially for board
dimensions longer than ~20 cm and frequencies above 200 MHz.

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a
Use the following checklist when designing your board.
Design ChecklistDetermine the number or required layers and provide the proper layer stacking



Determine the voltage regulator frequency response

Determine the Vdd internal bulk capacitance

Determine the Vdd internal high-frequency decoupling capacitance. Select the capacitors. Ensure proper placement andlayout

Determine the external Vdd required decoupling capacitance. Select the capacitors. Ensure proper placement and layout

Implement the recommended circuitry for AVDD decoupling and provide recommended layout



Avoid long traces and vias to minimize inductance

Refer to the EZ-KIT Lite evaluation system schematics:
ftp://ftp.analog.com/pub/tools/Hardware/Reference_Designs

The design database for the SHARC processors' EZ-KIT Lite, contains all the electronic information required for thedesign, layout, fabrication, and assembly:

References[1] “Power Distribution System Design Methodology and Capacitor Selection for Modern CMOS Technology”
IEEE Transaction on Advanced Packaging, Larry D. Smith, Douglas W. Forehand et al[2] “Decoupling Capacitor Calculations for CMOS Circuits” IEEE Transaction, Larry D.Smith[3] “High-Speed Digital Design - A Handbook of Black Magic”, Howard W. Johnson, Martin Graham, Prentice-Hall, 1993,
ISBN 0-13-395724-1[4] “Signal Integrity Simplified”, Eric Bogatin, Prentice-Hall, 2003, ISBN 0-13-066946-6[5] “High-Speed Digital System Design”, Stephen H. Hall, Garrett W. Hall, James A. McCall, John Wiley & Sons, 2000,
ISBN 0-471-36090-2[6] “High-Speed Signal Propagation, Advanced Black Magic”, Howard W. Johnson, Martin Graham, Prentice-Hall, 2003,
ISBN 0-13-084408-X[7] “Tolerance Calculations in Power Distribution Networks”, Istvan Novak, Sun Microsystems, Note published in Xcell
Journal, Summer 2004. Available at www.Xilinx.com[8] “Power Distribution System (PDS) Design; Using Bypass/Decoupling Capacitors”, Mark Alexander, Xilinx Application
Note, XAPP623 (V2.0) April 2004.
[9] “High Speed PCB Design & System Design”, Course notes, Instructor Lee Ritchie, UC Berkeley Engineering Extension,
May 1998[10] “Signal Integrity Issues & Printed Circuit Board Design”, Douglas Brooks, Prentice-Hall, 2003, ISBN-0-13-141884-X[11] “Effective Decoupling Radius of Capacitor”, H. Chen, J. Fang, W. Shi, paper presented at 2001 EPEP conference[12] “ESR & Bypass Capacitor Self Resonant Behavior – How to Select Bypass Caps”, Douglas Brooks, UltraCAD Design,
Inc., 2000
[13] “Parasitic Inductance of a Bypass Capacitor”, Dr. H. Johnson, page 32, EDN Magazine, July 2000
[14] “Analysis of Multi-Layered Irregular Power Distribution Planes with Vias Using Transmission Matrix Method”, J. Kim
and M. Swaminathan, Dept of Elec & Cmptr Eng’g, Georgia Inst of Tech

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a[15] “A Transmission-Line Mode for Ceramic Capacitors for CAD Tools Based on Measured Parameters”, Larry Smith, et.
al., Sun Microsystems Inc, Published in ECTC, San Diego, CA, pp331-336, May 2002[16] “Right the First Time – A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB & System Design”, Lee W. Ritchey, Speeding Edge,
May 2003, ISBN 0-9741936-0-7

Additional Resources
Most manufacturers of high-speed semiconductor ICs and PC boards have investigated the issues ofeffective power supply bypassing. The following companies have various application notes and support
tools on their Web sites.
1. Analog Devices, Inc: www.analog.com
2. Intel: http://www.intel.com/hardwaredesign/solutions/
3. AMD: www.amd.com
4. Xilinx: www.Xilinx.com
5. Sun Microsystems: www.sun.com
6. AVX Corp: www.avxcorp.com
7. Actel: http://www.actel.com/documents/PowerSupplyAN.pdf
8. Altera: http://www.altera.com/support/spt-index.html
9. Kemet Electronic Corp: www.Kemet.com
10. SPECCTRAQuest PCB 2D/3D EM Modeling software: www.specctraquest.com/
11. Allegro High-Speed PCB Design Tools: www.cadencepcb.com
12. HyperLynx High-Speed Signal Integrity & EMI Analysis: www.Mentor.com
13. AnSoft: 2-D, 3-D EM Modelling: www.ansoft.com
14. Signal Consulting, Inc.: www.SignalIntegrity.com

Document History
Revision

Description

Rev 1 – December 5, 2006
by Alberto Comaschi

Initial Release.

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