Power Integrity

8 Ways to Overcome SI and PI Challenges

8 Ways to Overcome SI and PI Challenges

Keysight

Keysight ADS 2016 features a host of new, technologies designed to improve productivity, including two electromagnetic (EM) software solutions specifically created to help signal and power integrity engineers improve high-speed link performance in PCB designs. What follows is a listing of 8 ways in which ADS 2016 can help you, the engineer, overcome your signal and power integrity challenges.


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Fig 1

Two Common Power Delivery Network Measurement Issues

There are many questions about measuring Power Delivery Networks (PDN), but these two are very common ones.  Why do we calibrate the 2-port measurement with a 1Ω shunt resistor and why do I use DC blockers on both ports?  In this article I’ll provide responses to both of these questions.  The measurement setup in Figure 1 is an example where I used both the 1Ω calibration and the inclusion of the DC blockers.


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VRM

Evaluation of Gallium Nitride HEMTs for VRM Designs

As systems designers work hard to squeeze more and more features into less board space, the power delivery paths are becoming increasingly complex. The current mature VRM designs based on Silicon MOSFETs are hardly meeting present day requirements. One of the promising technologies touted to solve this conundrum of space and performance constraints is GaN HEMT. However, many engineers are hesitant to design very high frequency GaN VRMs from the ground up. This paper evaluates the steps required to modify existing Si-MOSFET designs for use with eGaN HEMT devices. The paper also compares the expected performance of GaN vs. Si in linear and switching regulator topologies and covers some of the measurement challenges as well.


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