1. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of High Speed Interfaces
Presented on: March 13th, 2014

2. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS Interfaces Johnson Controls Incorporated
Automotive Experience
A global leader in automotive seating, overhead systems, door and instrument panels, and interior electronics.
Power Solutions
Global leader in lead-acid automotive batteries and advanced batteries for Start-Stop, hybrid and electric vehicles.
Building Efficiency
A leading provider of equipment, controls and services for heating, ventilating, air-conditioning, refrigeration, and security systems for buildings.
Incorporated in 1885
NYSE: JCI
No. 67 on U.S. Fortune 500
Headquarters–Milwaukee, WI, United States 2
Johnson Controls

3. New challenging product requirements
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Design challenges in modern electronic modules
New product features
Innovative functions
Modern yet familiar user interface
Visual and functional appeal
New challenging product requirements
Functional requirements
EMC requirements
Mechanical and Thermal
Demanding business targets
Timing, cost and quality

4. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Design aids available for engineers
Modern measurement equipment
Simulation Tools
Experienced engineering and support staff
Professional publications and training materials

5. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC guidelines from professional publications
EMC: Impact of vias in high speed signals
EMC: GND plane size and presence of guard traces
Sometimes you get mixed signals on what is the right design approach.

6. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Signal-Integrity guidelines from professional publications
Microstip vs. Stripline – Propagation delays, losses and crosstalk dilemma
Again you can see mixed messages.
What if you try to optimize design in both Signal Integrity and EMC areas?

7. Using Gnd vs Power as a reference plane (*) Experiment #3:
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Case study
Purpose: Evaluate EMC performance of different clock net routing topologies, in order to identify optimal solution for EMC and SI&TA performance.
Experiment #1:
Microstrip (MS) vs Stripline (SL) routing
Stripline with two vias vs MS/SL with eight vias (*)
Experiment #2:
Using Gnd vs Power as a reference plane (*)
Experiment #3:
MS top to bottom layers transition with and without GND stitching vias
Experiment #4:
MS with nominal ZO vs MS with Zo increased by 15%
Experiment #5:
Stripline (SL) vs MS with guard traces
(*) – assuming close coupling for signals and planes (under 4 mils or 100 um)

8. Circuit topology implementation for test clock net
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Case study
Circuit topology implementation for test clock net
PCB stackup
IC oscillator operated at 12 MHz, Clock Net length was 6 cm
All CLK cases (except for CLK7) - signal routing use Layer1 and Layer 3 with Layer 4 being void
CLK7 - signal routing use Layer1 and Layer 4 with Layer 3 being a power plane

9. Horizontal view of Clock Nets Vertical view of Clock Nets
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Case study
Experiment #1
Experiment #1
Experiment #3
Experiment #2
Experiment #2
Experiment #4
Experiment #5
Experiment #5
Horizontal view of Clock Nets
Vertical view of Clock Nets

10. RF scan at 84 MHz All clock topologies
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – RF Scan
RF scan at 300 MHz
CLK1, CLK2 and CLK3
RF scan at 84 MHz All clock topologies

11. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation methods – Conducted Emissions
Block diagram of CE evaluation method
Actual setup with DUT

12. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation methods – Radiated Emissions CiSPR25
Block diagram of RE evaluation method
Actual setup with DUT

13. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #1 – Conducted Emissions - Raw Data
CLK1
CLK2
Combined Plots
CLK3

14. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #1 – Radiated Emissions - Raw Data
CLK1
CLK2
Combined Plots RE
CLK3

15. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #1
Stripline net topology shown lowest emissions, for both CE and RE cases
Microstrip net topology shown highest emissions, for both CE and RE cases
Stripline with 8 vias does not perform worse than Microstrip (CE and RE)

16. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #2
Stripline referenced to a Power Plane does not perform any worse then stripline referenced to a Ground Plane (both CE and RE)
(*) – spacing between power and ground planes is 4 mils (100 um)

17. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #3
Microstrip which transitions between Top and Bottom layers (8 vias) does not show EMC improvements when ground Stitching Ground vias were added (RE & CE)

18. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #4
Microstrip with characteristic impedance increased by 15% have shown small to moderate increase in EMC emissions (RE & CE)

19. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation Results – Experiment #5
Microstrip with ground guard traces has shown small improvement in EMC performance (RE & CE) over Microstrip, but it does not perform better than Stripline

20. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Signal-Integrity and Timing Properties – Trace Topology Impedance
Variation of the average trace impedance was within 8% from means for all nets with exception for CLK17 (planned impedance increase by 15%)
Presence of multiple vias results in substantial increase of maximum impedance variation in the given net (CLK3, CLK5, CLK6)
(*) - Average trace impedance measured last three quarters length of the clock net

21. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Signal-Integrity and Timing Properties – Time Domain Response
Average rise time distortion had shown strong differentiation between clock net topology cases, but its value has remained low (under 3%)
Clock net topology has little impact on worst case rise time distortion measurement
(*) – Rise time was evaluated between CMOS VIL & VIH levels (30% & 70% of VCC)

22. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces EMC evaluation results - Conclusions
Results:
EMC emissions (RE&CE) of Stripline were always lower than Microstrip, even with presence of 8 vias (performance no worse than MS)
EMC emissions (RE&CE) have not been affected by changing signal reference from ground to power plane (closely spaced planes 100 um)
EMC emission performance of Microstrip transitioning between top and bottom layers was much worse, than that of a Stripline, addition of ground stitching vias has not affected EMC performance
Increase of Zo has resulted in increase of EMC emissions (RE&CE)
EMC emissions of Microstrip with guard trace were slightly lower than of Microstrip, but worse than Stripline
Presence of vias and reference plane changes affects negatively transition time, but for clock frequencies under 200 MHz its impact is negligible
Evaluation case:
Single driver and single receiver with a series termination, 6 cm long trace
8 layer PCB with closely spaced layers (100 um)
12 MHz low jitter source was used with rise time of 1.4 ns (20% to 80 %)

23. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Appendix 1
Publications referenced in the presentation:
Modeling and Analysis of Return Path Discontinuity Caused by Vias using the 3-Conductor Model, A. Ege Engin, IEEE transactions 2003
Reduction of Printer Circuit Board Radiated Emissions, Frank B.J. Leferink
Summary of Design Techniques, TBD
High-Speed Board Layout Guidelines, Altera Application Note 224, August 2009
EMC Design Guideline for Microcontroller Board Layout, Infineon Application Note
Dramatic Noise Reduction using Guard Traces with Optimized Shorting Vias, Eric Bogatin,DesignCon 2013

24. Source (Gaussian Pulse) Load 6.8 pF Clock Trace
Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Appendix 2 – Simulation setup
33Ω
Source (Gaussian Pulse)
Load
6.8 pF
Clock Trace
Simulation Settings:
Tool : CST Microwave Studio
Boundary Condition : Open add space
Back ground Space : 10mm in all directions
Frequency : GHz
Meshing : Hexahedral
Mesh cells : ~ 1.5 Million
Solver : Time domain
Frequency Samples : 3001
Broad band e-field (far-field) probes 1m away – In all 6 directions
Note: Simulation setup does not evaluate the same type of EMC performance which was evaluated via testing. Purpose of those simulations is to evaluate e-field radiation pattern in Z direction above the PCB.

25. Impact of PCB routing techniques on EMC performance of HS interfaces Appendix 2 – Simulation results Experiment 1 and Experiment 2
Simulation results confirm that emissions from stripline routing topology (CLK2) are smaller than that from microstrip (CLK1)
Simulation results indicate that there is small variation between emission from microstrip transitioning between top and bottom layers, in cases when ground stitching vias were present or absent