PCB layout is a critical portion of good power supply design. There are several paths that conduct high slew-rate currents or voltages that can interact with stray inductance or parasitic capacitance to generate noise and EMI or degrade the power supply performance.
- To help eliminate these problems, bypass the VIN
pin to GND with a low-ESR ceramic bypass capacitor with a high-quality dielectric. Place
CIN as close as possible to the LM516x-Q1 VIN and GND pins. Grounding for both the input and output capacitors must
consist of localized top-side planes that connect to the GND pin and GND PAD.
- Minimize the loop area formed by the input capacitor connections to the VIN and GND pins.
- Locate the inductor close to the SW pin. Minimize the area of the SW trace or plane to prevent excessive capacitive coupling.
- Tie the GND pin directly to the power pad under the device and to a heat-sinking PCB ground plane.
- Use a ground plane in one of the middle layers as a noise shielding and heat dissipation path.
- Have a single-point ground connection to the
plane. Route the ground connections for the feedback, and enable components to the ground
plane. This prevents any switched or load currents from flowing in analog ground traces.
If not properly handled, poor grounding results in degraded load regulation or erratic
output voltage ripple behavior.
- Make VIN, VOUT, and ground
bus connections as wide as possible. This reduces any voltage drops on the input or output
paths of the converter and maximizes efficiency.
- Minimize trace length to the FB pin. Place both
feedback resistors, RFB1 and RFB2, close to the FB pin. Place
CFF (if used) directly in parallel with RFB1. If output set-point
accuracy at the load is important, connect the VOUT sense at the load. Route
the VOUT sense path away from noisy nodes and preferably through a layer on the
other side of a grounded shielding layer.
- The RT pin is sensitive to noise. Thus, locate
the RT resistor as close as possible to the device and route with minimal
lengths of trace. The parasitic capacitance from RT to GND must not exceed 20 pF.
- Provide adequate heat sinking for the LM516x-Q1 to keep the junction temperature below 150°C.
For operation at full rated load, the top-side ground plane is an important
heat-dissipating area. Use an array of heat-sinking vias to connect the exposed pad to the
PCB ground plane. If the PCB has multiple copper layers, these thermal vias must also be
connected to inner layer heat-spreading ground planes.