Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange
Electrical Engineering Stack Exchange

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".

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 .

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Should I really divide the ground plane into analog and digital parts?

I am about to design my first PCB as part of my graduation project. Of course, as the first step, I try to learn as much as possible. A part of the research I found this 3 part article, that suggests that it is not neccessary and in some cases is…
Andrey Pro
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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 wavelength of 1/4 it is usually necessary to have the…
LUFER
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Reasons not to fill unused board area with power planes instead of ground planes?

On the (two-layer) board I'm designing, I have a relatively large unused area. Instead of just pouring it with ground on both sides, I'm considering filling it with Vcc on one side and ground on the other, to create a small capacitance between the…
nitro2k01
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How to minimize impedance from capacitor to Gnd and Power planes

I'm trying to minimize the impedance from my capacitors to the Gnd and Power planes. 1. Via positioning I've learned from several sources that the best via positioning is close to each other. This way you minimize the loop inductance for currents…
K.Mulier
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Why exactly is it discouraged to gap the ground plane?

From time to time I hear (and read) that it is not good to make separate Gnd planes for digital and analog circuit parts. It's all summarized in this rule of thumb: "Don't split the Gnd plane, don't make gaps in it." Usually this comes without clear…
K.Mulier
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Should there really be 1 MΩ resistance between an anti-static wrist strap and a pc?

My previous question: what exactly is grounded through motherboard standoffs? The answers suggest that a PC case is grounded in 2 ways: To the ground plane of the motherboard, through the brass standoffs. The ground plane is grounded to the PSU,…
user127725
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Purpose of exposed ground pads

I have a Beckhoff EL2008 8-channel digital output terminal that I took apart because I'm using an ASIC that is inside the module, Beckhoff's ET1200. There is essentially a ring of ground pads,some with vias, surrounding the ET1200 inside the module…
raaymaan
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Should there be any PCB ground plane under a 16 MHz oscillator?

For a 2-layer PCB, should there be a ground plane under a 16 MHz oscillator? From this PDF document, http://www.nxp.com/assets/documents/data/en/application-notes/AN2500.pdf, it shows the following figure, which suggests not to have any ground…
plu
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PCB antenna: ground plane layers and dimensions?

I'm using an Inverted-F antenna on a Bluetooth Low Energy peripheral/device I'm designing and I'm not sure how I should design the ground plane. The ground plane should not be "too big" nor "too small", the recommended dimensions are described on a…
rasgo
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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 not mention the reason why. As I understand it…
DarkBulle
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15MHz photodiode PCB, feedback requested

I've developed a 2-layer 15MHz photodiode amplifier board. The first stage is a transimpedance amplifier using AD8065. The second stage is using a current-feedback amplifier, THS3091. Power is +/-12V fed off-board, into J2, from a semi-regulated…
Paul L
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What are the different grounds on a PCB?

I am working with boost converters recently. I have problem which you can find here. After going through the datasheet several times I encountered the special focus on the ground plane. It talks about different ground nodes. I have no idea what it…
Arjun
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Placement of RF module for better performance

I am using a standard RF module (i.e., Bluetooth-module-on-PCB), which has a PCB-trace-type anntena. It is in turn to be soldered onto my main PCB. The whole thing will be powered by a standard Li-ion battery. Which of the following two placements…
boardbite
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What's the best ground topology for this mixed signal board?

I'm designing a 4 layer mixed signal PCB with sensitive analog circuits and RF-digital circuits. The board have many mechanical constraints so the places of the analog and digital circuits are fixed. When designing the ground plane I added some…
Caniko
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PCB layout - ground plane clearance around and under a ceramic resonator

We are using Murata's 4MHz ceramic resonator (CSTCR4M00G53-R0) in one of our designs and request help in PCB layout design around the ceramic resonator. The below Murata's FAQs page suggests not to place any GND plane under the ceramic resonator.…
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