PCB Structure with a Guard Band for Suppressing Electromagnetic Radiation

Yoshiki KAYANO
Motoshi TANAKA
Hiroshi INOUE

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E88-B    No.8    pp.3182-3188
Publication Date: 2005/08/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e88-b.8.3182
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section of 2004 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility)
Category: Printed Circuit Boards
Keyword: 
electromagnetic interference,  common-mode current,  PCB,  guard-band,  feed cable,  

Full Text: PDF(1.2MB)>>
Buy this Article


Summary: 
Electromagnetic (EM) radiation from a feed cable attached to a printed circuit board (PCB), which is commonly encountered electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem at high-speed electronic PCB designs, is investigated by experimental and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling. In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a guard-band structure as a method for suppressing the EM radiation from a PCB with a feed cable. A signal trace is located between two ground traces (guard-band: GB). Four different cross-sectional PCB structures, which are commonly used in microwave integrated circuits as typical structures, are used to compare the guard-band structure. Frequency response of common-mode (CM) current, electric field near a PCB, and far electric field (radiated emission) are investigated as characteristics of the EMI. Results show that the shield structure is effective in suppressing the CM current at lower frequency. However, structures in which a conductive plate exists near the signal trace yield resonances with high level peak on CM current, near and far-field. On the other hand, the guard-band structure is more effective than other structures in suppressing the EM radiation in the considered frequency range. Therefore the guard-band will be effective for high-density PCB packaging with high-speed traces.