E
AP-523
29
8.0.
MEASURING TRANSIENTS
In order to measure transients on a voltage island, a clean
connection will be required. A good way to achieve this
is by the placement of a coaxial connection directly into
the power island during layout. An SMA type connector
can be used and should be placed near the centrum of the
array of pins receiving that voltage as in Figure 20.Since
a cable will mate to this connector while the system is
functioning, this connector must be placed on the
opposite side of the board as the processor.
Cable the signal directly into the oscilloscope and take
the reading with the oscilloscope bandwidth limited to
20MHz. This will filter out the components of the Vcc
noise that the package characteristics also filter out.
There is no need to decouple frequencies above this
range since these frequency components will not enter
the Pentium Pro processor package.
9.0.
EXISTING TECHNOLOGY FOR A
PENTIUM
a
PRO PROCESSOR
SYSTEM DESIGN
9.1.
Solutions for V
CC
P
Intel has assisted in the development of many industry
DC-to-DC Converter modules for the Pentium Pro
processor. Any of these components used in a specific
design should be understood by the designer and can not
be guaranteed by Intel for use in that design. In general,
the vendor of any component will assist in the usage of
their component. See your local field office for a list of
possible vendor solutions.
Another solution that is a simple extension to the
discussion in this paper is to integrate the components of
the DC-to-DC converter, including the bulk capacitance,
onto the system PCB. Intel has helped power silicon
vendors as well in designing Pentium Pro processor
specific solutions. Again, see your local field office for a
list of possible vendor solutions.
9.2.
Linear Regulators for V
TT
Linear regulators are widely available. Switching
regulators can also be used to generate V
TT
.
9.3.
Termination Resistors
Intel recommends the use of resistor networks to reduce
the part count of the processor board assembly. The best
options are resistor networks with separate pin access to
each side of every resistor in the package. This will
minimize any inductance or crosstalk within the package.
When using resistor networks with single corner pin V
CC
connections for GTL+ termination, beware of inductive
packages. Intel has found that these packages can cause
significant voltage drops due to the inductance in the 24
pin SOIC packages being used for this purpose.
10.0. DC-TO-DC CONVERTER
SPECIFICATIONS
The following specifications define DC-to-DC converters
to meet the requirements of the Pentium Pro processor
and future Intel microprocessors.
Each specification is placed into one of three categories:
REQUIRED
:
An essential part of the design;
cannot meet minimum Pentium
Pro
processor
without it.
specifications
EXPECTED
:
Part of Intel’s standard Pentium
Pro processor power definitions;
necessary for consistency with
the designs of many systems and
power devices. Required by most
Pentium Pro processor flexible
motherboard designs.
GUIDELINE
:
Normally met by of this type of
DC-to-DC
converter
therefore, included as a design
target. Likely to be specified by
system manufacturers.
and,
10.1.
Electrical Specifications
Specification Summary
REQUIRED
The DC-to-DC converter must meet the specifications for
any processor it is intended to power in a system. For
example, Table 6 shows the specifications for a DC-DC
converter to support a 150 MHz Pentium Pro processor
with a 256-Kbyte L2 cache. Converters supporting the
requirements of a Pentium Pro processor flexible
motherboard must meet the broader requirements of
Table 8.