PCB Experiments & Lab Reports

PDN and Slammer Circuit

The goal is to study the impact of sudden current draw on the power rail and resultant switching noise caused by the dI/dt through the inductance of the power rail and aims to determine the optimal capacitance value of the decoupling capacitor to achieve the desired reduction in switching noise.

555 Timer
Board 1

The focus of this lab is to design a circuit consisting of 555 Timer as an astable multivibrator to generate a square wave with a specific frequency and duty cycle. and to observe the effect of the output as the variation in intensity of LEDs which are connected to resistor of different values.

Good-Bad
Switching Noise Layout - Board 2 Mock

The aim of this lab is to work with a custom-built PCB board of Board-2 that demonstrates two important design principles for reducing switching noise - using a continuous return path under signal traces and using low inductance decoupling capacitors in close proximity to the IC power pins and to measure few switching properties.

Single and Differential Ended Measurement

The objective of this report is to assess the quality of analog signal measurements from a sensor by comparing single-ended and differential pair measurement methods

Cross Talk Measurement

The purpose of this lab is to investigate the impact of interconnect approaches on the amount of cross talk between the aggressor and adjacent victim signal return path. This will be achieved by using a special board to compare two different geometries and measure the amount of switching noise cross talk produced by each.

2 and 4 Wire Measurement

The goal is to investigate the measurement of trace resistance using 2-wire DMM and 4-wire method. Also, examination of current-carrying capacity of traces with varying widths, including 6mil, 10mil, 20mil, and 100mil is carried out. This gives insights on the behavior of trace resistance and the factors that affect the current-carrying capacity of different trace widths.

Switching Noise Analysis - Board 2

To design a board that compares the switching noise and cross talk in good and bad hex design and to demonstrate the benefits of good design practices in noise minimalization as the bad layout is done intentionally faulty to exhibit higher switching noise.