E
4.4.1.
AP-523
23
LOCATION OF HIGH FREQUENCY
DECOUPLING
High frequency decoupling should be placed as close to
the power pins of the load as physically possible. Use
both sides of the board if necessary for placing
components in order to achieve the optimum proximity
to the power pins. This is vital as the inductance of the
board’s metal plane layers could cancel the usefulness of
these low inductance components.
Another method to lower the inductance that should be
considered is to shorten the path from the capacitor pads
to the pins that it is decoupling. If possible, place the vias
connecting to the planes within the pad of the capacitor.
If this is not possible, keep the traces as short as is
feasible. Possibly one or both ends of the capacitor can
be connected directly to the pin of the processor without
the use of a via. Even if simulation results look good,
these practical suggestions can be used to create an even
better decoupling situation where they can be applied in
layout. Figure 21 illustrates these concepts.
4.4.2.
LOCATION OF BULK DECOUPLING
The location of bulk capacitance is not as critical since
more inductance is already expected for these
components. However, knowing their location and the
inductance values involved will be useful for simulation.
In this example the bulk capacitance is on the voltage
converter module electrically
behind
the inductance of
the converter pins. This is Intel’s recommended solution.
4.4.3.
IMPEDANCE AND EMISSION
EFFECTS OF POWER ISLANDS
There are impedance consequences for signals that cross
over or under the edges of the power island that exists on
another layer. While neither of these may be necessary
for most designs, there are two reasonable options to
consider which can protect a system from these
consequences.
The Pentium Pro processor power islands can be isolated
from signals by one of the solid power plane layers such
as the ground layer. This forces a particular stack-up
model.
Another option that helps, but does not completely
eliminate radiation effects, is to decouple the edges of the
CPU power islands to ground on regular intervals of
about 1” using good high frequency decoupling
capacitors (1206 packages). This requires more
components but does not require any particular board
stack-up.
In either event, for controlling emissions, all planes and
islands should be well decoupled. The amount of
decoupling required for controlling emission will be
determined by the exact board layout, and the chassis
design. One should plan ahead by allowing additional
pads for capacitors to be added in case they are
discovered necessary during initial EMI testing.
5.0.
THE GTL+ BUS POWER
REQUIREMENTS
The GTL+ bus is an end terminated, open-drain bus.
Both ends are terminated to a voltage level called V
TT
(1.5V) which becomes a supply of current when output
drivers are turned on. There are approximately 150
GTL+ lines in a Pentium Pro processor system design.
The GTL+ bus power requirements present a different
situation than creating power for the CPUs. While the
current required is less than that for a processor, the
GTL+ bus does have a fairly tight tolerance specification.
Just as the processor can start and stop executing within a
few clock cycles, the bus usage follows, which in turns
causes load changes and transients on the GTL+ power
supply (V
TT
). Since the GTL+ bus is terminated at both
ends, V
TT
must be available to the termination resistors at
both ends of the bus. This can be accomplished by
having two sources of V
TT
or by distributing V
TT
.
Bad
Vias
Good
Excellent
P
ads
Capacitors
Good
P
in
Good
Figure 21. 1206 Capacitor Pad and Via Layouts