AN 958: Board Design Guidelines

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ID 683073
Date 6/26/2023
Public
Document Table of Contents
Document Table of Contents x
1. Power Distribution Network 2. Gigahertz Channel Design Considerations 3. PCB and Stack-Up Design Considerations 4. Device Pin-Map, Checklists, and Connection Guidelines 5. General Board Design Considerations/Guidelines 6. Memory Interfacing Guidelines 7. Power Dissipation and Thermal Management 8. Tools, Models, and Libraries 9. Reference Designs and Development Kits 10. Document Revision History for AN 958: Board Design Guidelines
1. Power Distribution Network x
1.1. Target Impedance Decoupling Method 1.2. Voltage Regulator Selection 1.3. PDN Design Tool 1.4. Plane Capacitance 1.5. Minimization Parasitic Inductances 1.6. Additional Resources
1.1. Target Impedance Decoupling Method x
1.1.1. FDTIM Decoupling Concepts 1.1.2. Select Decoupling CAPS to Meet ZTARGET
1.1.1. FDTIM Decoupling Concepts x
1.1.1.1. Determining the ZTARGET 1.1.1.2. Determining the fTARGET
1.5. Minimization Parasitic Inductances x
1.5.1. VRM 1.5.2. Decaps 1.5.3. Mounting Inductance 1.5.4. Spreading Inductance 1.5.5. Inter-Plane Capacitance 1.5.6. Conclusion
2. Gigahertz Channel Design Considerations x
2.1. Material Selection and Loss 2.2. Routing Guidelines for Gigabit Channel Designs 2.3. Minimizing Adverse Effects of Material Glass Fiber Weaves 2.4. Plane Cut-outs Below Surface Mount Pads 2.5. Transmitter Pre-Emphasis and Receiver Equalization 2.6. Additional Resources
2.2. Routing Guidelines for Gigabit Channel Designs x
2.2.1. Via Optimization Techniques
2.2.1. Via Optimization Techniques x
2.2.1.1. General Routing Guidelines
3. PCB and Stack-Up Design Considerations x
3.1. Material Selection and Loss 3.2. Board Thickness and Vias 3.3. PCB Recommended Layout Footprint Land Pattern
4. Device Pin-Map, Checklists, and Connection Guidelines x
4.1. High Speed Board Design Advisor 4.2. Complete Pin Connection Table by Device 4.3. Pin Connection Guidelines By Device 4.4. Design for Debug with JTAG Pins 4.5. Hot Socketing, POR and Power Sequencing Support 4.6. Implementing OCT 4.7. Unused I/O Pins Guidelines 4.8. Device Breakout Guidelines 4.9. Additional Resources
5. General Board Design Considerations/Guidelines x
5.1. Board Design Process Overview 5.2. Design Security Features in FPGAs 5.3. EMI 5.4. Discrete Component Selection for High-Speed Design 5.5. S-Parameters 5.6. Smith Chart 5.7. AC Versus DC Coupling 5.8. Additional Resources
5.1. Board Design Process Overview x
5.1.1. Material Selection and Loss 5.1.2. Cross Talk Minimization 5.1.3. Power Filtering/Distribution 5.1.4. Unused I/O Pins 5.1.5. Signal Trace Routing 5.1.6. Ground Bounce 5.1.7. Understanding Transmission Lines 5.1.8. Impedance Calculation 5.1.9. Coplanar Wave Guides 5.1.10. Simultaneous Switching Noise Guidelines
5.1.3. Power Filtering/Distribution x
5.1.3.1. Filtering Noise 5.1.3.2. Distributing Power
5.1.5. Signal Trace Routing x
5.1.5.1. Single Ended Trace Routing 5.1.5.2. Differential Trace Routing 5.1.5.3. Skew Minimization 5.1.5.4. Termination Schemes 5.1.5.5. Termination Design Example 5.1.5.6. Discontinuities Related to a Transmission Path
5.1.5.4. Termination Schemes x
5.1.5.4.1. Simple Parallel Termination 5.1.5.4.2. Thevenin Parallel Termination 5.1.5.4.3. Active Parallel Termination 5.1.5.4.4. Series-RC Parallel Termination 5.1.5.4.5. Series Termination 5.1.5.4.6. Differential Pair Termination 5.1.5.4.7. On-Chip Termination
5.1.5.5. Termination Design Example x
5.1.5.5.1. Determine the Delay 5.1.5.5.2. Determine the Bandwidth 5.1.5.5.3. Using Series Termination 5.1.5.5.4. Using Parallel Termination
5.1.5.6. Discontinuities Related to a Transmission Path x
5.1.5.6.1. Inductive Discontinuity 5.1.5.6.2. Capacitive Discontinuity 5.1.5.6.3. Via Discontinuity 5.1.5.6.4. Right-Angle Bends Related to a Transmission Path
5.1.6. Ground Bounce x
5.1.6.1. Design Guidelines 5.1.6.2. Analyzing Ground Bounce 5.1.6.3. Switching Outputs 5.1.6.4. Quiet Outputs 5.1.6.5. Minimizing Lead Inductance
5.1.8. Impedance Calculation x
5.1.8.1. Microstrip Impedance 5.1.8.2. Stripline Impedance 5.1.8.3. Propagation Delay
5.1.8.3. Propagation Delay x
5.1.8.3.1. Microstrip Layout Propagation Delay 5.1.8.3.2. Stripline Layout Propagation Delay
5.1.9. Coplanar Wave Guides x
5.1.9.1. Simple Coplanar Wave Guide 5.1.9.2. Grounded Coplanar Wave Guide 5.1.9.3. Grounded Differential Coplanar Wave Guide
5.4. Discrete Component Selection for High-Speed Design x
5.4.1. Resistors and Capacitors 5.4.2. Inductors and Ferrite Beads 5.4.3. SMA Connectors
6. Memory Interfacing Guidelines x
6.1. DDR3 Board Design Guidelines 6.2. DDR2 Board Design Guidelines 6.3. DDR Board Design Guidelines 6.4. QDR II and QDR II+ 6.5. RLDRAM II 6.6. Additional Resources
7. Power Dissipation and Thermal Management x
7.1. Power Management Guidelines 7.2. Heat Sinking and Thermal Managment for FPGAs 7.3. Additional Resources
8. Tools, Models, and Libraries x
8.1. Design Tools 8.2. I/O Buffer Models 8.3. Device Libraries 8.4. Net Length Reports 8.5. Thermal Models
9. Reference Designs and Development Kits x
9.1. Development Kits
1. Power Distribution Network
2. Gigahertz Channel Design Considerations
3. PCB and Stack-Up Design Considerations
4. Device Pin-Map, Checklists, and Connection Guidelines
5. General Board Design Considerations/Guidelines
6. Memory Interfacing Guidelines
7. Power Dissipation and Thermal Management
8. Tools, Models, and Libraries
9. Reference Designs and Development Kits
10. Document Revision History for AN 958: Board Design Guidelines

5.7. AC Versus DC Coupling

AC coupling refers to the use of a series capacitor on a signal to block the DC signals from going through. DC coupling refers to the case where this capacitor is not present and the signal passes through without any interruption. In AC coupling, a DC restore circuit is generally required after the capacitor to ensure that the common mode voltage requirements of the receiver are met. In Intel devices with transceivers, the DC restore circuitry is built into the device. In that case, external DC restore circuitry is not necessary. DC coupling works only in cases where the output common mode voltage of the transmitter is in the required range of the input common mode voltage of the receiver.

The advantage of AC coupling is that it allows chips with different common mode voltages to interface with each other. The disadvantage is that it requires an extra capacitor, which can add some jitter or other degradation if not properly selected.

If you are certain that the common mode voltage requirements of the receiver are a subset of the common mode voltage output of the transmitter, use DC coupling. If you are in a borderline case, or if the requirements are not satisfied, then use AC coupling.

In choosing the value of the coupling capacitor, consider what happens if the capacitor is too big or too small. If the capacitor is too big, it can significantly slow the signal down and can also respond poorly to fast changing input signals because of the long charge and discharge times. If the capacitor is too small, it presents a fair amount of impedance and can increase attenuation and change the characteristic impedance of the path. A good balance between these two conflicting requirements is a 0.01 μF capacitor, which Intel uses for its 3.125 Gbps transceiver designs.

When selecting components, use the smallest size possible, because smaller size components have smaller size pads, which reduce the discontinuity. Intel has used 0402 components (40 mils x 20 mils) in its designs.

You can design the DC restore circuitry in a variety of ways. Intel typically uses a simple resistive voltage divider (refer to Figure 89). Be sure to use precision resistors (0.1% or 1%) for differential signals, so that the restored DC levels on the positive and negative signals are very closely matched. In Figure 89, the DC restore circuitry restores the DC level to 3.3 * 78.7/(140 + 78.7) = 1.1875 volts.

Figure 89.  AC Coupling

Transceiver devices have DC biasing on the high-speed transceivers inputs and reference clock inputs designed for the 1.5-V PCML standard, so AC coupling is not required. This saves components and board space. If you are using other I/O standards such as LVPECL or LVDS, then you need to AC-couple them, because their common mode voltage is different from the 1.5-V PCML common mode voltage. External biasing networks are not needed, because the common mode is generated internally in the device.

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