Tagged Questions

3
votes
1answer
108 views

Power Plane and Decoupling Capacitors Routing

Forgive me for my simplicity. I'm just a hobbyist and not an engineer by trade. I am trying to make my first 4 layer PCB in Eagle and I have a question I cannot find the answer to regarding power ...
2
votes
1answer
302 views

How to connect ground planes together

What is the best way to connect ground planes together ? I know that ground planes are connected together at multiple locations in order to keep a low impedance GND across the whole board and provide ...
1
vote
2answers
134 views

Ground copper pour for Crystals and Real time clocks

I am laying out a (2-layer) board, with a standard SMD Crystal as well as a Real-time clock placed on the top-side of the board. What are guidelines regarding ground copper pour under the Crystal and ...
2
votes
1answer
485 views

How do components on a ground plane of monopole pcb antenna effect radiation/efficiency?

I am trying to design a 2 layer PCB including two transceivers (GSM module + Zigbee IC) with internal PCB monopole antennas. I managed to have a solid ground plane on non-component side as recommended ...
8
votes
4answers
1k views

Are there reasons *not* to have a copper-pour ground plane on a PCB?

I am taking a first stab at designing a PCB from scratch. I am considering using a CNC mill fabrication process, and it seems like with this process I would want to remove as little copper as ...
5
votes
1answer
603 views

Why is a broken ground plane not as effective as an unbroken one?

I did a two layer board a few weeks ago which had a dedicated ground plane. I routed 90% of the signals on the top layer and for the last 10% I had to route them through the bottom (ground) plane. I ...
13
votes
5answers
3k views

What is causing large oscillations in my DC/DC boost converter? Is this ground bounce or some other effect?

I designed my first PCB for a DC-DC boost converter only to find that it produced very noisy output. The design is based around the MIC2253. Here's a schematic: Although my circuit allows for ...
48
votes
6answers
7k views

Should chassis ground be attached to digital ground?

I'm working on a PCB that has shielded RJ45 (ethernet), RS232, and USB connectors, and is powered by a 12V AC/DC brick power adapter (I do the 5V and 3.3V step down on board). The entire design is ...