Author Topic: Mixed signal PCB layout help  (Read 24877 times)

0 Members and 7 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Mixed signal PCB layout help
« on: July 02, 2023, 02:01:39 am »
Hi All

I am busy laying out a mixed signal PCB and i am stuck at deciding where to place my power rails. I am also not sure where to make the single connection between digital and analog ground because i have more than 1 analog IC's and the data sheets recommend making this connection under the thermal sink/ground of the IC. If I do that then I think the digital ground return path of the one IC (ADC) will couple with the analog signals of the DAC.

Would you guys go to town on this PCB layout and possibly give me advice on what I need to change etc. to get it as best I can.

 

Offline Marsupilami

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #1 on: July 02, 2023, 07:23:19 pm »
I haven't done any precision analog design ever, so take this with some reservation, but until someone smarter chimes in here's this.

Is this something needing peculiar precision or do you just want to get it reasonably good?
If latter, just do one or more solid ground plane, and try to make everything wide and thick to present the absolute lowest possible impedance, so the return current doesn't cause a noticeable voltage drop.
The power rails can be kept reasonable separate, with any extra filtering and decoupling as close as possible to the sinks. Carefully decoupling the digital power rails is important too.
Split grounds can be very tricky and you can very easily do more damage than good. 
 

Online Benta

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 7180
  • Country: de
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2023, 10:29:54 pm »
I can't see anything. The "Dark Theme" fetish has gone too far.
 
The following users thanked this post: gnuarm

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2023, 01:14:32 am »
I can't see anything. The "Dark Theme" fetish has gone too far.

 :-DD
 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2023, 01:19:29 am »
I haven't done any precision analog design ever, so take this with some reservation, but until someone smarter chimes in here's this.

Is this something needing peculiar precision or do you just want to get it reasonably good?
If latter, just do one or more solid ground plane, and try to make everything wide and thick to present the absolute lowest possible impedance, so the return current doesn't cause a noticeable voltage drop.
The power rails can be kept reasonable separate, with any extra filtering and decoupling as close as possible to the sinks. Carefully decoupling the digital power rails is important too.
Split grounds can be very tricky and you can very easily do more damage than good.

This is for a scanning tunneling microscope. This board senses the tunneling current that has been amplified on another board and then generates precise voltages to control the tip of the microscope. The more precise I can get it the better the resolution will be so I would like to get it as best i can.

Here is an attempt at separating ground planes. It hurts my eyes to look at it, its not very pretty but as far as i can tell the return currents don't interfere with each other.  Maybe the guru's can see something that I cant though.

 

Offline Marsupilami

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2023, 04:33:08 am »
Oh wow. Well, you're not lazy, that's for sure. :D
Is this 2 layer only? Is that due to economic consideration?

For example what's the return path for the ADC digital signals?
 

Offline Hammbone

  • Newbie
  • Posts: 6
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2023, 09:32:19 am »
I think you are going to have ground bounce issues with your current layout. Ground bounce is the worst form of cross talk. Much larger than the noise you get from having digital and analog circuits share a ground plane. Ground bounce occurs whenever a trace is routed over a gap between planes. This causes the return path of the signal to be extra long increasing mutual inductance between signals. Mutual inductance is your enemy and will cause large crosstalk. If this is a two layer board I suggest making the bottom layer a solid ground plane. Do all your routing on the top layer. If you have to route a trace on the bottom layer make it as short as possible before returning to the top layer. Additionally if you are going to have ground pour on the top layer use lots of vias to stitch it to the bottom layer. Maybe one every 500 mils. Datasheet recommendations are not always best when they are taken out of context. Good luck with your pcb!
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki

Offline Doctorandus_P

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 5374
  • Country: nl
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2023, 10:24:37 am »
To me it looks like you have not got any GND plane at all.
It's just a mess of patchy floating copper area's and antenna's.

You have got 5 tracks between the TC2326 and the 4809QFN. I assume this is some serial channel (SPI?) Routing for this is extemely bad. Remember that current always flows in loops, and with your layout you are forcing the return current though the GND plane to make a detour through whatever location you choose to connect those GND plane pieces.

Separating analog and digital GND planes is also deprecated, for 20 to 30 years or so. In most situations a single continuous GND plane works better, especially when combined with a bit of physical separation between the analog and digital parts of the circuit. To do it properly, also consider how currents flow though the GND plane. Worst case would be putting the uC on the left, an SMPS circuit on the right and then your analog stuff in the middle. In that case the power for the uC would go right underneath the analog stuff.

From your design, it's clear you do not have much PCB design experience, (and that is a place where everyone starts). I don't like altium much, but if you want to know how to handle GND planes then watch this 2 hour video from Rick Hartley:



2 hours may seem excessive for "GND on a PCB", but it's not. You may even want to watch this video twice or thrice, and do some PCB design in between. Robert Feranec has also made some nice video's about GND and signal integrity in PCB design.

If you find signal integrity very important, then go for a 4 layer PCB, use a single continuous GND plane, and put it on an inner layer close to the signal layer. It is even advantageous to use both inner layers as GND, and then use the outer layers for signal and power only. For the background, go watch the video's linked to above.
 
The following users thanked this post: SiliconWizard, rhodges, r6502, Ted/KC9LKE

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2023, 01:50:18 pm »
Oh wow. Well, you're not lazy, that's for sure. :D
Is this 2 layer only? Is that due to economic consideration?

For example what's the return path for the ADC digital signals?

Yes this is two layer only, my Diptrace layout program is limited to two layers but I am trying to get a license for more layers as we speak.

The return path of the ADC is as shown below. The ground of the input opamp runs to the second layer via vias and then underneath the ADC IC.





 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2023, 02:11:49 pm »
To me it looks like you have not got any GND plane at all.
It's just a mess of patchy floating copper area's and antenna's.

You have got 5 tracks between the TC2326 and the 4809QFN. I assume this is some serial channel (SPI?) Routing for this is extemely bad. Remember that current always flows in loops, and with your layout you are forcing the return current though the GND plane to make a detour through whatever location you choose to connect those GND plane pieces.

Separating analog and digital GND planes is also deprecated, for 20 to 30 years or so. In most situations a single continuous GND plane works better, especially when combined with a bit of physical separation between the analog and digital parts of the circuit. To do it properly, also consider how currents flow though the GND plane. Worst case would be putting the uC on the left, an SMPS circuit on the right and then your analog stuff in the middle. In that case the power for the uC would go right underneath the analog stuff.

From your design, it's clear you do not have much PCB design experience, (and that is a place where everyone starts). I don't like altium much, but if you want to know how to handle GND planes then watch this 2 hour video from Rick Hartley:



2 hours may seem excessive for "GND on a PCB", but it's not. You may even want to watch this video twice or thrice, and do some PCB design in between. Robert Feranec has also made some nice video's about GND and signal integrity in PCB design.

If you find signal integrity very important, then go for a 4 layer PCB, use a single continuous GND plane, and put it on an inner layer close to the signal layer. It is even advantageous to use both inner layers as GND, and then use the outer layers for signal and power only. For the background, go watch the video's linked to above.

The 5 tracks between the TC2326 and the 4809QFN are SPI lines you are correct. Thanks for pointing this out, could you be as kind to elaborate a bit more? I'm looking at the loop of the SPI current and all I see is that the loop doesn't interfere with the analog side. This is what I see:



Thanks for the video link I am going to watch it now.
 

Offline Marsupilami

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2023, 02:48:26 pm »
The return path of the ADC is as shown below. The ground of the input opamp runs to the second layer via vias and then underneath the ADC IC.




This is what I see for the ADC SPI shortest path. It's very hard to tell where is that loop going to couple, especially if you have similar ones that might not even be obvious.

I forgot to say it in my previous post, that really cool application tho.
 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2023, 04:01:10 pm »
The return path of the ADC is as shown below. The ground of the input opamp runs to the second layer via vias and then underneath the ADC IC.




This is what I see for the ADC SPI shortest path. It's very hard to tell where is that loop going to couple, especially if you have similar ones that might not even be obvious.

I forgot to say it in my previous post, that really cool application tho.

Haha funny picture. So how would a continues ground plane make that loop any different? If the ground plain was continues, i.e. I didn't have those ground splits in there, that loop would still exist. I am also confused as to why the digital ground would take that route because the digital ground is not connected to that ground pour?  This raises another question. What difference does splitting ground planes make if analog and digital ground pins of the IC are connected internally?

I have attached a closer picture of the ADC, The red line shows the digital ground pin is not connected to the analog ground pins at all. However I do realize that this doesn't matter if they are internally connected |O if they are connected internally how is it possible to prevent the SPI return current from coupling with the ADC analog current then?







 

Offline ajb

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2867
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2023, 06:42:13 pm »
This raises another question. What difference does splitting ground planes make if analog and digital ground pins of the IC are connected internally?

I have attached a closer picture of the ADC, The red line shows the digital ground pin is not connected to the analog ground pins at all. However I do realize that this doesn't matter if they are internally connected |O if they are connected internally how is it possible to prevent the SPI return current from coupling with the ADC analog current then?

The answer is that you separate out the return current paths.  A split/single-point-connected ground plane is kind of a shortcut way of enforcing this, but only really works on eval boards with one mixed signal IC, limited supporting circuitry, and limited external connections.  In the context of a more complex design, it falls onto the designer to ensure that return currents are properly directed, regardless of how the ground plane is laid out.  A big part of this is placement (in fact, good layout in general is 90% about good placement), so making sure you have a good idea of what kinds of currents will flow in/out/between each block of circuitry and place them accordingly is a good start.  From there, consider the loop paths between blocks, and make sure you route accordingly, including maintaining a solid ground plane as much as possible. 

There are multiple loops to be concerned with here.  This starts with the power supply input, which is a loop unto itself between your input capacitors (I don't see any on your board, btw) and the external power source.  From there you have a loop between the bulk capacitors on the board to the local decoupling caps.  Then you have the loops formed by decoupling caps with the ICs they serve, these want to be as tight as possible to provide maximum stability of the local power supply, and they are the foundation of the next set of loops, which include the signal tracks between ICs.  Consider that when your MCU is clocking the SPI line to the ADC, on every clock transition the MCU delivers a pulse of current into the clock line.  The energy for that pulse comes from a local decoupling cap at the MCU, delivered through the MCU's output stage into the clock line, into the ADC, and is returned through the ADC's ground pins, through the ground plane, back to the MCU decoupling capacitor.  High frequency return currents will be concentrated in the path of lowest inductance.  When a signal track is routed over a continuous, unbroken ground plane, the lowest inductance return path is through the ground plane directly underneath of the track.  This is why a continuous ground plane is generally ideal, because return path inductance is minimized (as is the DC path resistance by virtue of there being as much copper as possible).  In terms of 'high frequency', remember that with digital signals it's not the transition frequency but the transition rate (slew rate, dV/dt) that determines the highest frequency of concern.  This is why you don't want to route tracks across a break in the ground plane, because it forces those return currents to detour through a higher inductance path around the break to get where they need to go.  This is also what makes the old advice to only have one point of connection between analog and digital grounds tricky--in order for that to work properly, any signal that crosses the digital/analog boundary has to do so at that single point.  Having a single contiguous plane is often a more realistic path to acceptable results. 

Even if your design would benefit from a split ground plane strategy, that would likely only come into play after you've dealt with other things that will have a much more significant effect on your precision: power supplies, input filtering (power and signal), DAC/ADC reference quality, error terms in your analog components, etc.  No amount of fancy ground plane shenanigans will make up for deficiencies in those areas, but they will all benefit from a good ground plane. 

In any case, aside from the fundamental question of whether or not you should split your ground planes, your ground planes are far too fractured by signal tracks to really be of any benefit here.  You have a number of islands, and near-islands in the ground pours as things stand now.  You could probably get a reasonably contiguous plane with two layers on this design, but it will take much more careful routing and you'll still likely need to stitch top and bottom pours together with vias.  In general, I suggest moving a lot of your longer tracks to the top layer, and rather than moving whole tracks to the bottom layer, use short bottom-side tracks to allow signals on the top layer to cross.  The small hole created in the ground plane by a short jumper track is far less harmful than a big slot created by a longer track.  Where you must have longer tracks on the bottom, avoid having top side tracks cross over them.  If that can't be avoided, use a top side pour and stitch it to the bottom pour, such that the top and bottom pours add up to a more-or-less uninterrupted plane. 

 
The following users thanked this post: Marsupilami

Offline Marsupilami

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2023, 09:16:55 pm »
I have attached a closer picture of the ADC, The red line shows the digital ground pin is not connected to the analog ground pins at all.

MY bad, I missed the separate ground pin of the ADC. I didn't mean to confuse you, but it still doesn't help the loop.


ajb's comment is great.




 

Offline nctnico

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 30302
  • Country: nl
    • NCT Developments
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2023, 11:55:39 pm »
First of all use a 4 layer board. This design ain't gonna work with only 2 layers.
Make sure to have a single, solid ground plane. That has the lower impedance and thus the least cross talk.

Remember current flows in a circle. So use local filtering for high-speed parts using ferrite beads + capacitors to create locate power planes. HF current can not travel beyond the ferrite bead. When interfacing ADCs / DACs to something like an FPGA or microcontroller, you can add series resistors in the signal lines. These will reduce the (HF) peak currents flowing between the devices and also through the ground plane.

If the ADC has multiple inputs and a single reference input you could opt for a seperate 0V 'reference plane' the is connected to the ground plane through a 10 Ohm resistor or so. This way you get a semi differential input but using ADCs with fully differential inputs is better ofcourse.
There are small lies, big lies and then there is what is on the screen of your oscilloscope.
 

Offline ArdWar

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 760
  • Country: sc
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #15 on: July 04, 2023, 12:37:29 am »
Can you at least rotate your OpAmp or flip your supply traces so they aren't interdigitized like that? Those ground islands makes me anxious.
 

Offline gnuarm

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2247
  • Country: pr
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #16 on: July 04, 2023, 12:41:21 am »
I can't see anything. The "Dark Theme" fetish has gone too far.
:-+
Rick C.  --  Puerto Rico is not a country... It's part of the USA
  - Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
  - Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #17 on: July 04, 2023, 02:01:43 am »
watch this 2 hour video from Rick Hartley:



This video was really eye opening. Firstly it had made me realize that the power in traces are actually carried around the trace in the dielectric of the PCB and or air. This helps me in understanding how fast signals will couple to the closest return path irrespective if they are connected or not. Proximity is king.

Another thing I understand is that high frequency is not necessarily the clock speed but rather the rise time. In my mind I thought ahh i'll just drive the SPI lines in the khz range to get rid of too much digital noise but the rise time is the real killer.

Then the two layer board. I now see how limiting this is in terms of allowing low inductance return path for signals. From the video I rate I will go atleast 4 layers with layers 1,2,3,4 being 1. ground,  2.signal/power,  3.signal/power, 4.ground. And wherever I need to route a signal line from 2 to 3 I will use ground VIA's as close as possible to these signals to offer the lowest inductance return path to ground. And yes I get that these principles apply to really high frequency signals but there is an alement of it in the ADC's rise times so it's worth learning these good practices now rather than later. I will also be stitching ground planes as much as I can.

So time to upgrade diptrace license to get access to use more layers then back to the drawing board.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2023, 03:31:36 am by calvingloster »
 

Offline ArdWar

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 760
  • Country: sc
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2023, 02:48:42 am »
From the video I rate I will go atleast 4 layers with layers 1,2,3,4 being 1. ground,  2.signal/power,  3.signal/power, 4.ground, ground.
With 4 layer it's usually Signal-GND-GND-Signal. The idea is to have closely coupled return path available everywhere no matter[1] what you're doing with the signal trace on the outer layers.

For practical reason it's also usually preferrable to route signal only on the outer layer. It might sounds nice to have signals "protected" in the middle between GND, but in reality they'll crisscross with other signal instead making it barely better than 2 layer. Component pads also break ground plane continuity. Also imagine debugging or repairing boards where signal traces are internal...


Note: [1] within reasons
 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2023, 02:55:19 am »
From the video I rate I will go atleast 4 layers with layers 1,2,3,4 being 1. ground,  2.signal/power,  3.signal/power, 4.ground, ground.
With 4 layer it's usually Signal-GND-GND-Signal. The idea is to have closely coupled return path available everywhere no matter[1] what you're doing with the signal trace on the outer layers.

For practical reason it's also usually preferable to route signal only on the outer layer. It might sounds nice to have signals "protected" in the middle between GND, but in reality they'll crisscross with other signal instead making it barely better than 2 layer. Component pads also break ground plane continuity. Also imagine debugging or repairing boards where signal traces are internal...


Note: [1] within reasons


The video above suggests that it becomes really difficult to have components, signals and power on the outer layer and recommends using ground signal signal ground instead. However the video also mentions its mainly for high density boards and this is by no means a high density board so i think i may just use signal ground ground signal.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2023, 03:26:45 am by calvingloster »
 

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #20 on: July 10, 2023, 12:15:56 pm »
OK so I got the license for more layers. I went 4 layers with Signal/Power,Ground,Ground,Signal/Power. Each ground point gets stitched to the inner ground layers with a Via. I am thinking I must do a regular grid of vias stitching the top and bottom pour to the inner ground layer? Would be great if you guys could go to town on the PCB again thanks.



 

Offline gnuarm

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2247
  • Country: pr
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #21 on: July 11, 2023, 12:17:01 am »
OK so I got the license for more layers. I went 4 layers with Signal/Power,Ground,Ground,Signal/Power. Each ground point gets stitched to the inner ground layers with a Via. I am thinking I must do a regular grid of vias stitching the top and bottom pour to the inner ground layer? Would be great if you guys could go to town on the PCB again thanks.

(Attachment Link)

I haven't reviewed all the posts, but I can't think why anyone would suggest that you use two ground layers.  A solid power layer will have similar signal integrity characteristics.  If you have more than one power rail, you can divide the power layer into "zones" for each power rail.  In some designs, you also need separate ground areas for analog and digital grounds (joined at one point, at an edge of the ground area).  So, one ground layer and one power layer.

With adequate bypassing, the power planes will act the same as the ground plane, establishing the impedance of your signal traces.
Rick C.  --  Puerto Rico is not a country... It's part of the USA
  - Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
  - Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki

Offline calvinglosterTopic starter

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 64
  • Country: za
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #22 on: July 11, 2023, 10:25:10 am »

Quote
I haven't reviewed all the posts, but I can't think why anyone would suggest that you use two ground layers.  A solid power layer will have similar signal integrity characteristics.  If you have more than one power rail, you can divide the power layer into "zones" for each power rail.  In some designs, you also need separate ground areas for analog and digital grounds (joined at one point, at an edge of the ground area).  So, one ground layer and one power layer.

With adequate bypassing, the power planes will act the same as the ground plane, establishing the impedance of your signal traces.

Ok well maybe you should read the whole post because what you saying about splitting ground planes causes more harm than good if not done exactly correctly and its a really outdated way of doing it. Watch that video that was recommended its really good.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2023, 10:43:15 am by calvingloster »
 

Offline gnuarm

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2247
  • Country: pr
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2023, 05:27:24 pm »

Quote
I haven't reviewed all the posts, but I can't think why anyone would suggest that you use two ground layers.  A solid power layer will have similar signal integrity characteristics.  If you have more than one power rail, you can divide the power layer into "zones" for each power rail.  In some designs, you also need separate ground areas for analog and digital grounds (joined at one point, at an edge of the ground area).  So, one ground layer and one power layer.

With adequate bypassing, the power planes will act the same as the ground plane, establishing the impedance of your signal traces.

Ok well maybe you should read the whole post because what you saying about splitting ground planes causes more harm than good if not done exactly correctly and its a really outdated way of doing it. Watch that video that was recommended its really good.

"if not done exactly correctly"

You seem to be making a statement, but then you completely undercut yourself by saying it will work, but only if the designer is not crap. 

The idea of isolating analog and digital ground planes is sound.  Digital electronics can produce huge ground currents, such as the impulses from a switching power converter.  No matter how well you design that circuit, it will have very large ground currents that will create ground noise, disrupting sensitive analog circuits.  So, the two need separate ground areas, connected at a single point.  Any digital signals that cross between the two areas, should do so as close to the point of connection as possible.

I've used this approach in any number of designs, and it works.
Rick C.  --  Puerto Rico is not a country... It's part of the USA
  - Get 1,000 miles of free Supercharging
  - Tesla referral code - https://ts.la/richard11209
 

Offline ajb

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2867
  • Country: us
Re: Mixed signal PCB layout help
« Reply #24 on: July 11, 2023, 10:50:22 pm »

Quote
I haven't reviewed all the posts, but I can't think why anyone would suggest that you use two ground layers.  A solid power layer will have similar signal integrity characteristics.  If you have more than one power rail, you can divide the power layer into "zones" for each power rail.  In some designs, you also need separate ground areas for analog and digital grounds (joined at one point, at an edge of the ground area).  So, one ground layer and one power layer.

With adequate bypassing, the power planes will act the same as the ground plane, establishing the impedance of your signal traces.

Ok well maybe you should read the whole post because what you saying about splitting ground planes causes more harm than good if not done exactly correctly and its a really outdated way of doing it. Watch that video that was recommended its really good.

"if not done exactly correctly"

You seem to be making a statement, but then you completely undercut yourself by saying it will work, but only if the designer is not crap. 

The idea of isolating analog and digital ground planes is sound.  Digital electronics can produce huge ground currents, such as the impulses from a switching power converter.  No matter how well you design that circuit, it will have very large ground currents that will create ground noise, disrupting sensitive analog circuits.  So, the two need separate ground areas, connected at a single point.  Any digital signals that cross between the two areas, should do so as close to the point of connection as possible.

I've used this approach in any number of designs, and it works.

As previously mentioned in the thread you admitted you didn't read, and covered extensively in the very good video Doctorandus_P shared.... High frequency return currents (above audio frequencies) are concentrated in the path of least inductance.  With a track over a solid ground plane, the return currents take the same path as the track except through the ground plane, because that's the path that encloses the smallest loop area.  At best, splitting the ground plane is not effective for controlling high frequency return currents, because with a solid plane they already take the optimal (least impedance) path available.  At worst, splitting the ground plane can cause serious problem with EMI, SI, and basic function by forcing HF return currents to flow around--or even couple across--the gap in the plane, increasing inductance, and spreading fields out further across the board and beyond where they can impact more signals.  As you note, signals should be routed across the junction point to avoid this, but that also forces the signal and its return current closer to the sensitive ADC/DAC--or you have to make that junction area larger, stretching the definition of "single point", to preserve signal separation without tracks spanning the split.  So, bottom line, split planes can work, but they're not going to be better than a single solid plane for high frequencies, and will cause more harm than good if not done exactly correctly. 

Splits/Slots can be effective at controlling lower frequency return currents (in the audio range down to DC), but that's only relevant if you have enough current in those lower frequency ranges to cause meaningful voltages across the DCR of the return path.  "Meaningful" of course depends on the sensitivity of the circuitry involved as well as the magnitude of the currents concerned.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf

 

-->