Questions tagged [ground-plane]
An area of copper on a PCB which is connected to the PCB's ground node in order to provide a return path for current from the various circuits on the board. The ground plane's area is typically made as large as possible (even occupying an entire board layer) in order to minimize its impedance, thus allowing it to conduct high return currents without a significant voltage drop from one part of the board to another. Use with related tags such as "pcb".
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Mesh ground advantage over single rod ground
In high voltage laboratories, how do mesh grounds perform better than that of single rods?
Does frequency play a role here ?
Which one is more beneficial, using multiple single rods in lab for ...
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How to correctly ground/isolate a grounded enclosure type thermocouple?
My K-type thermocouple (grounded enclosure type) connected to MAX31855 adapter connected to Arduino Mega gives me faults every few readings. It's really, really bad. I've tried swapping thermocouples, ...
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Split Ground plane with motor drivers
This is a PCB with few stepper drivers.
I have a question about the ground plane. I have this idea to split the ground plane for each driver, so, I force the return path to pass through the capacitor....
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Ethernet external magnetics layout
I am laying out a 10/100Mbps Ethernet PCB with discrete magnetics. From the magnetics to the PHY chip I have a system ground plane on the adjacent layer for the return path. From the connector to the ...
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Good PCB Design - Single Power Plane with 2 Power supplies (+ve & -ve) [closed]
Recently I've taken over a project which requires low noise but the design given to myself does not meet the requirements. I noticed on the PCB design It has a single Power Plane with 2 separate ...
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Questions about RF ground plane and low frequency reflections
Why do RF signals on a microstrip/stripline require a ground plane to propagate within a circuit? When studying DC and low frequency AC circuits in school, it appears that ground is a particular point ...
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Use earth as shield between high and low voltage on PCB
I have a PCB with both mains and low voltage.
The ground plane of the low voltage side is kept distant from mains (separation marked with a white silkscreen line), and separated with cutouts.
I am ...
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EAGLE 7.7 do not fill GND polygon
Adding a polygon GND, but it not going to fill at all. Ratsnest - not helping. Orhans also not helping. Any idea?
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EAGLE PCB GND Plane not properly connecting to through hole pins
So I submitted this board design to PCBWay to get prototypes, but they kicked it back to me saying that there are very thin wires throughout the board. Upon inspecting the pictures they sent back to ...
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Issues with designing ground plane for switching relays in high noise environment
I am designing a PC Controlled 8 channel Relay using AVR microcontroller.
Here, the relays are on the right side of the board and are controlled by the AVR micro on the left side.
The eight TTL ...
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Understanding the basics of a ground plane and vias to it on a 2 layer PCB
I'm trying to learn the process of PDB design. I believe I've succeeded at placing my components and drawing tracks to their pads, but am having trouble adding the ground plane and connections to it.
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Should I fill free PCB space with ground?
I'm new to PCB design and I'm wondering if it makes sense in a two layer PCB to fill any free space on the top and bottom layer with a ground area.
My design:
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Bluetooth antenna on top of large metal object and other RF questions
I've been doing some research on RF antenna design considerations but haven't really found anything close to the situation my device will be in. I am designing a wireless sensor for my FSAE team that ...
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Helical antenna on PCB connected on ground?
I purchased the wireless bell that works on 433 MHz and would like to have an antenna with more gain in order to receive the signal a little bit far.
When I opened the device I found the helical ...
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Vias versus ground plane entirety
I am facing a kind of dilemma with my PCB design. I am designing a two-layer PCB with the ground plane (GP) on the 2nd layer. I have many tracks that run from one side to the other of the board, hence,...
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Proteus 8.11 - Ground plane disappearing when I try to route or move a component
I have a two-layers thru-hole PCB in Proteus 8.11, and I am trying to put a ground plane on the bottom layer. But, every time I move a component or try to route, the ground plane just disappears. I ...
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Digital inputs for analog switches (analog or digital ground?)
I'm using an analog switch, ADG1434 to switch some filter components in a circuit. My question is about general best practice for the digital signals going to analog switches. The switch is dual ...
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PCB layout review: ground layout for CC step down converter
I'm laying out a step down converter based on the ST L5973AD being used in constant-current layout to drive LEDs, per Application note 2823.
My previous question was what is the datasheet telling us ...
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Extra small RF PCB antenna - GND plane
My new PCB design is about 25 mm * 25 mm, this is not enough for a proper 868 MHz antenna ground plane, I am using the 0868AT43A0020 chip antenna where at least a 20 mm * 40 mm GND plane is required. ...
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Split or not split the ground plane in a low-noise design?
For low-noise design, many component datasheets suggest dividing the ground plane into AGND and DGND and linking them with a star connection.
But my ten years of experience in EMC have shown me that ...
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Confining signal using stitching vias on a 2 layer PCB
I have read in some questions (for example: Via Stitching on 2 Layer PCB when top layer is not fully ground pour ), that stitching vias are useless when one's PCB only has 2 layers, however people do ...
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Additional ground area for thermal mass
My 2-layer PCB has a ground plane on the bottom layer and almost everything is routed on the front layer.
I'm using a MCP1501 Voltage Reference, its data sheet says:
Of particular importance is the ...
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PCB antenna track and SMA connector controlled impedance
I designed a pcb for GSM module, using all the specifications given by the manufacturer, to have a controlled impedance. But there is a small detail that escapes me and that is not documented. When ...
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EN55032 Conducted Emissions - 40cm From Vertical Reference Ground Plane
I've always wondered why we need to position the EUT 40cm from the metallic wall for conducted emissions testing. Does it have something to do with the EUT capacitively coupling the higher end of the ...
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PCB design - noise and ground loop
I'm working on a electronic load and it's not very sensitive to noise, the questions are mostly out of curiosity.
On the PCB I have a fan control circuitry that I separated the ground and positive ...
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Ethernet PCB layout: Ground
I am designing a Ethernet PCB with external magnetics on a 4 layer board. On the PHY side I have the system ground on the adjacent layer under the two differential pair for the return path. How about ...
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Antenna conterpoise or ground plane. Confused about length requirements
I have an appliation where i need to mount a multiband (VHF/UHF/700/800/900 MHZ) mobile antenna (picture 2) on a tower. The spec sheet for the antenna says it used a 4 foot diameter ground plane for ...
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Where to connect two GND layers together?
I have a 4 layer PCB. The stackup is as follows:
SIG + PWR | GND | GND | SIG + PWR
Now I want to connect both GND planes with each other. EasyEDA Pro has this feature called "suture vias". ...
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Power planes in PCB
I'm designing my first PCB (two layer), the project is for an amplifier based on OPA2134.
The design/amplifier requires to have +12V, GND and -12V.
The power for the amplifier comes from a ...
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Long slots in gnd plane of 2 layer board
I'm trying to design a computer keyboard pcb (2 layer), and because of the placement constraints intrinsic to this situation, I have very long (spanning 80% of the dimension) slots (discontinuities) ...
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Copper fills in top and bottom layer from a cost perspective
I've seen low-cost boards from consumer electronics that have just tracks connecting the pins and they will have no copper ground pours. Since making these as cheap as possible is the goal, doesn't it ...
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Does separating DGND and AGND with two different layers for each make any sense?
In my last question I found out that having two different layers for Ground and Analog Ground may induce capacitive coupling. Now I want to ask more generally if the idea I had is worse than ...
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Does it make sense to connect the MAX6675 to a Analog Plane?
I'm currently designing a PCB with 4 Layers. The stack up is as follows:
Signal - DGND Plane - AGND Plane - Signal.
There are a ton of components connected to the DGND Plane, and I know that for ...
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How can I connect the ground planes to GND?
I'm trying to make a double-sided PCB in Proteus Ares. I added the planes using the Power Plane Generator tool, but there is no connection between planes and ground, if that makes sense. The only ...
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Chassis and digital ground in an eight layer PC motherboard
I have GNDC (chassis GND) and GND (digital GND) on my PC motherboard design.
All connectors in my design (RJ45, USB-TypeC, USB-TypeA, HDMI, DP, etc.) are connected to the chassis through the GNDC ...
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Stripline (with target impedance) between ground and power planes?
The common idea for a stripline is that the trace is sandwiched between two ground planes.
My question: is it the same, for the purpose of characteristic impedance, to have a ground plane or a power (...
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Stripline with coplanar ground plane?
I can't seem to find any impedance calculator that offers this configuration — not sure if it has a different name; I'm referring to a trace on an inner layer, sandwiched between ground planes on the ...
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What's the intuition behind connecting a wire shield to the ground plane on a bare board?
I have an old (1970s) PCB that generates a (baseband, composite) NTSC video signal. It is a bare board without a containing chassis or case. I am using a shielded cable for the video output line and ...
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Noise on PCB trace influences NTC measurement
I have a general question regarding noise in PCB-Designs.
The PCB I'm currently working on is failing some tests on the RF side. I have scanned the internet for information, but there are no concrete ...
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Why does this RF PCB have small holes in the ground polygon?
I usually pay attention to RF PCBs.
This shape is like a hole, but it is not, the ground surface is used in the form.
What is the purpose of making these holes?
How can I make them easily with the ...
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Is a ground plane useful in this analog PCB scenario?
I'm planning to make a DAC amplifier circuit on a PCB, with a schematic similar to the following example:
The PCB will be composed of a one quad op-amp, some resistors, some caps, and connectors for ...
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Multiple grounds on a small PCB
I'm designing a carrier board for an INS module. The carrier board is small (64 mm x 92 mm). Due to providing isolated GPIOs, I had to use 4 isolated power supplies on this small area, one for the ...
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What is a safe clearance for ground planes?
I am designing a board and the ground plane default clearance was set to 22 thou. I have been told in the past that a rule to thumb, with signal lines, is to work to "8 thou track and gap"
So is it ...
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What is the best way to route a two-layer MCU based PCB?
Considering we're designing a two-layer PCB with a 100-pin MCU, what's the best way to routing? As you can see in the image, many pins of this MCU are used (almost all.)
When designing a two-layer ...
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Which PWR routing strategy has the best return path for a SIG/PWR-GND-GND-SIG/PWR stackup?
I'm trying out the stackup SIG_ROUTE/PWR_ROUTE-GND_PLANE-GND_PLANE-SIG_ROUTE/PWR_ROUTE after reading of its advantages. How should I route power to components on the opposite side of the PCB?
Here is ...
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LTM4612: Power Ground and Signal Ground Planes
I'm trying to figure out how to create the GND layers for a PCB with an LM4612 buck converter module. The datasheet says a bunch of seemingly contradictory things:
"Place a dedicated power ...
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Power Supply PCB ground plane and thermal vias
I've been working on a light controller, GPS tracker, anti-theft, etc. board for my e-bike and I originally designed the 48V - 12V DC converter around a standard sixteenth-brick power converter (PS1):
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How to create thermal relief for multiple vias close together?
I've run into several situations where closely spaced vias are useful. Via stitching, reducing inductance, thermal vias in a pad, etc.
However, when I place power vias close together in software, the ...
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How to fully connect component pad with the ground plane
I'm trying to make a simple PCB board on eagle.
I've learned how to make a ground plane, and it worked great. But I wonder, why is the component pins/pads connected to ground as more like a plus (+) ...
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Why does 1/4 wavelength have a ground plane and 1/2 wavelength needs none?
Why does 1/4 wavelength have to have a ground plane and 1/2 doesn't?
I know that an antenna that has half a wavelength does not need the ground plane (example a dipole antenna) and when using a ...
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