Description

2.1 General

2.2 PCB Etch

Application Report

SLUA366–October 2005

PCB Layout Guidelines for Power Controllers

Bob Kando .............................................................................................. PMP - Systems Power (MAN)

Power layouts require a few basic rules. This guideline for power controller layout addresses:

· The supply of sufficient current to the load.

· Noise immunity for the load and sense circuits.

· Accurate current sensing.

Reference the controller datasheet for helpful applications information such as component selection, set

point calculations and thermal considerations. The power controller datasheet may have specific bypass

capacitor information. Other times it may be necessary to perform system measurements and tests to

determine the optimum bypass values.

Treatment of other high frequency system signals such as clocks are not discussed here and usual good

practice rules for layout and manufacturability apply.

The power controller, MOSFET and sense resistor operate together to deliver power to the slot. These

components should be located together at the slot.

The sense resistor is sized to select the current supplied on a given slot voltage. Because of the tolerance

on the controllers comparator input voltage, the circuit design and layout must consider the high end of the

current range for etch runs and vias. A circuit that is design for 12 A minimum, often supplies current to a

maximum of 18 A. Use 18 A for all the etch and via calculations.

Table 1 is helpful to determine the current carrying capacity of PCB etches. The table assumes:

· 1oz/sq foot copper (0.035mm thickness).

· 10°C rise on outer layers, 20°C inner layers

· Groups of high current tracks are de-rated

· Tracks are not near or over heat sink areas

Table 1. Current Capacity PCB Etch

WIDTH CURRENT CAPACITY

0.010" 0.8 A

0.015" 1.2 A

0.020" 1.5 A

0.050" 3.2 A

0.100" 6.0 A

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2.3 Vias or Feedthrus

2.4 Sense Resistor Wiring

Description

From Table 1, each doubling of copper thickness allows an increase of sqrt(2) (about 1.4) in the current

capacity. Each doubling of a single track width increases current capacity by a factor of 1.65.

For our 12-A minimum output example, the etch run should be designed for 18 A. Using 1 ounce copper,

an etch width of 0.35 inches is minimum for a 10°C rise on the outer layers.

Vias limit the current and add inductance between the power supply and load. Layouts are usually done

with 10-mil inner ring feedthrus. At this size, current capability is about 1 A per feedthru. To access power

from the inner layer plane to the MOSFET input in our example requires 18 feedthrus

Bypass capacitors should be located on the same side of the board as the target component as close to

the component as possible. If feedthrus are used, the design must consider the inductance of the

feedthru. It may require multiple feedthrus just to reduce the inductance. Multiple capacitors may be

required for bulk or low or high frequency filtering. At higher operating frequencies, the inductance is a

more sever problem. Bypassing a 100-MHz signal is extremely difficult with feedthrus in the circuit. High

frequency bypassing is best done on the component plane with no vias.

The sense resistor is as much as possible a direct connection between the MOSFET output and the slot

power. Similar to the MOSFET circuits, the sense resistor etch must be sized to the maximum current

requirement. The sense etch should be connect between the resistor bond pads and run as a differential

pair to the hot plug controller. In this way, the sense voltage is measured directly across the sense resistor

and is not influenced by other circuit board etch. The Kelvin connection is shown in Figure 1. Accuracy of

the sense resistor measurement will be compromised if these details are not met.

Figure 1. Kelvin Connection

2 PCB Layout Guidelines for Power Controllers SLUA366–October 2005

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2.5 Sense Resistor Bypass

2.6 Supply Bypass

Description

Power circuits often have high current transients. These transients can cause voltage spikes across the

sense resistors that can trip the hot plug controller. Bypassing across the sense resistor inputs to the hot

plug controller may be required. A 1-nF capacitor located at the controller on the sense resistor input pins

is usually sufficient to filter noise above 1 MHz. The capacitor value is selected based on the Impedance

vs Frequency graph, Figure 2. Other filtering schemes may be necessary. Common mode noise may be

better addressed with capacitors on each side of the sense resistor to ground. Adequate bypassing of the

power to the FET and to the load is very important because the sense resistor and FET should not see

high frequency current fluctuations.

Figure 2.

Ground noise can be a major problem on backplanes with high current switching. The switching current

from the PCIX and PCIX-2 transceivers with an all 1’s pattern to all 0’s can be 3.2 A per slot from the

transceivers alone. The logic adds additional noise which can be measured across the ground plane and

slot power. The noise may be coupled into sense lines or other signals through bypass capacitors not

grounded close to the part that they are bypassing.

SLUA366–October 2005 PCB Layout Guidelines for Power Controllers 3

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2.7 Bulk Capacitance

Controller

Sense Resistor

To Inner Layer Power

2.8 Summary

Description

A bulk capacitor adds stability to the power supply voltage because it can supply surge current to the load.

Adequate bulk capacitance for the input supply voltage should be located at the MOSFET input. Sense

resistor output voltage to the slot should have bulk capacitance and high frequency bypass located at the

slot. Bulk capacitance can be calculated by C = I x Dt / DV; where I is the surge current, DV is the voltage

drop that can be tolerated, and Dt is the duration of the surge.

Figure 3. Sample Schematic and Layout

Providing the correct etch width, number of vias and adequate bypassing will reduce the debug time and

speed the time to market. Noise and supply problems generate random errors that are often hard to track

down, which take a lot of time. Following a basic set of power rules will reduce test time and time to

market.