BYPASSING
Frequency Domain Time Domain
Note how the Bypassing becomes more effective as the ground conductor approaches a
continuous plane. Ground planes are often used in high frequency circuit boards for this
reason.
Bypassing and decoupling are subjects that are rarely, if ever,
covered in the classroom; but are emphasized in nearly ALL Data
Sheets & Application Notes!
The legacy of this is that many new engineers and some technicians
ignore it, but they do so at their peril.
It is the single greatest reason for prototype hardware debugging
problems!
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WHAT IS BYPASSING?
When powering any active device, there is one overriding requirement: that the point of
entry of the power supply (Power Rail) be as LOW an impedance (relative to ground) as
possible, i.e., ideally: zero ohms! This will help to insure the stability of the circuit: Circuit
Integrity.
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WHY DO WE BYPASS?
The reason for bypassing is to prevent unwanted communications between different devices
(or different stages of the same device) that share the same power rail. Also, implicit in this
requirement, is the reduction of NOISE present on that power railat all frequencies.
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HOW DO WE BYPASS?
Something as simple as placing a bypass capacitor between power and ground (Vcc and
Gnd) of each active device, will effectively restore this nearly ideal power supplyzero ohms
output impedance!
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ideal Voltage Source:
Furnishes a constant voltage output, regardless of the load or load variations;
Definition
the output Impedance = zero ohms at all frequencies and all conditions.
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Power Rails
Because there is distance between any power source and the active device it powers, a
conductor, wire, or trace of finite length is required between that power source and
device.
Any conductor, wire, or trace has the properties of resistance and inductance; both can
cause problems where power is concerned. The resistance problem can be overcome by
increasing the crosssectional area of the conductor; however, the inductive property is
another story.
Even what might appear to be a small inductance, at high frequencies, or very high
frequencies, can translate to an unacceptable high impedance.
See the figure below:
Notice how the Inductive Reactance (XL) of the finite length conductor effects this Zero
Ohms Impedance. Hence the active device's need for varying rates of current creates
more NOISE as the conductor length (and the reactance) increases.
Adding a Bypass Capacitor to this Inductive Reactance helps to restore the (virtual)
Zero Ohms Impedance.
At this point, it is worth noting that ALL active devices have inputs and outputsbut
you already knew that didn't you! What you may not have considered is that the
power railthe Vcc pincan be both, an input and output "port." You only have to
examine the schematic of such devices to see that the power rail is common to both
input and output stages, i.e., the bias resistors of the input stage are connected to
the same "Rail" as the load resistors of the output stages.
This arrangement is not a Bad Thing, because it presupposes that this common
power rail will always be held at Zero Ohms! That is, it will be sourced by an Ideal
Voltage Source.
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Amplifier with various degrees of Power Supply Stabilization
in the form of Bypass & Decoupling
Sans Bypass Capacitor With One Bypass Capacitor
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With Two Bypass Capacitors &
With Two Bypass Capacitors a DecouplingInductor
Notice how the power railVcc pincan be both, an input and output "PORT."
TTL (Transistor Transistor Logic) logic is ONE GREAT SOURCE OF NOISE.
In a typical TTL logic device (gate, flip flop, counter, register, etc.), it is fair to say that at
any one time: half of the transistors are ON, and the other half are OFF. However, during
logic transitions, for a very short time ALL of the transistors are ON.
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TTL is a "Saturating Logic," i.e., a transistor is either fully off or fully on, and when it is fully
on it is said to be, in Vsat.
A saturated transistor requires more time to become unsaturated than it took to become
saturated in the first place; this time difference is called storage time (Ts).
Therefore, during any logic transition (one/zero or zero/one) All of the transistors are ON
for this short time (Ts)drawing ~twice its normal current. This latency can last from two or
three nanoseconds to as long as fifteen nanosecondsdepending on the logic family.
See the figure below:
It takes longer to turn a transistor
off than it takes to turn it on: the
time to turn on (risetime) = Tr the
time to turn off = Tf (falltime)
+ Ts(storage time). Ts is the time
required for the hole/electron pairs
to move back across the base
junctiontaking the transistor out of
saturation (Vsat).
Although Shottkey devices (74S, 74LS, 74AS, etc.)
were meant to eliminate this effect, there is still
some storage time.
In systems using thousands, to hundreds of thousands of gates, there can be a tremendous
demand on the power supply, i.e., supplying a constant, nonvarying Vcc to a load that is
random and very high speed (fast didt, i.e., a large current change in a short period of
time).
If one could supply power to all of the logic devices at a constant Vcc, everything would
bePeachy Keen. However, Lifeand Murphy, do not allow anything dealing with engineering
design, to be Peachy. Bummer!
As mentioned previously:
Because there is "Distance" between any power source and the logic it powers, a
conductor, wire, or trace of finite length is required between this power source and the
logic.
Any conductor, wire, or trace have the properties of resistance and Inductance; both can
cause problems where power is concerned. The resistance problem can be overcome by
increasing the crosssectional area, however, the Inductive property is another story.
Even what might appear to be a small inductance, at high frequencies, or very high
frequencies, can translate to an unacceptable high impedance.
As in the case of the amplifier, above, TTL logic devices have inputs and outputs; and the
power railthe Vcc pincan be both, an input and output "port." Again, an examination of
the circuit reveals that the power rail is common to both input and output stages, i.e., the
bias resistors of the input stage are connected to the same "Rail" as the load resistors of
the output stages.
This arrangement, again, presupposes that this common power rail will always be held at
Zero Ohms! That is, it will be sourced by an Ideal Voltage Source.
RECAP:
In the world of fast edge sensitive logic, it is a simple matter to conceive of "inappropriate
communications" between logic devices (& elements within a device) through the
unprotected, high impedance power railVcc.
Because of the speed of this demand on the power supplyRise and Fall times in the
nanosecondsthe frequencies are in the many hundreds of MHz. And, any conductor, be it
printed circuit trace, or wire, any conductor, between the device power pin and the power
source can look like an unacceptably high resistancetens of Ohms to hundreds of Ohms.
Something as simple as placing a capacitor between Vcc and ground of each logic device,
will effectively create this near Ideal power supplyZero Ohms output impedance!
** An Alternative way to View Bypassing **
One may think of the Bypass Capacitor as a sort of a "Voltage Storage Reservoir,"
supplying instantaneous demand while recharging (from the power supply, via the
inductive reactance of the connection) for the next demand...
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Adding the Capacitor
BYPASSING IS THE ONLY WAY to
maintain the integrity of the power
distribution to the various circuits, i.e.,
to maintain the low impedance of the
true voltage source, to counteract the
inductance of the finite length of the
conductors that distribute the power to
the circuits.
This can be done by applying a
sufficiency of capacitance between the
supply pin of each device or stage and
ground or common: using the Shortest
Path Possible.
An illustration of the
effects of Inductance
in Excessive Lead
Length.
L1 & C repersent the Capacitor and its leads.
Rt & L2 are Parasitics found in Bypass Capacitor
interconnection.
Note simplified Equivilent Circuit of
Bypass Capacitors' Self Resonance
installed Bypass Capacitor.
Bypass Capacitors' Minimum Impedance at Self Paralleling Bypass Capacitors for
Resonance Maximum Effectiveness
The Effect of Lead Length, Capacitor Type, & Layout on Bypass Capacitor Effectiveness
Frequency Domain Time Domain
Note how the Bypassing becomes more effective as the ground conductor approaches a
continuous plane. Ground planes are often used in high frequency circuit boards for this
reason.
Bypass Capacitors built in as
part of the IC Socket
"Decoupling" Power
Distribution Bus Bars
Powering both Analog and Digital
In addition to Bypassing, there are instances where Decoupling is appropriate.
(Especially when powering both Analog and Digital from the same Power Supply.)
Memory Chips with Bypass Capacitors
Note: one per device.