In modern electronic systems, the performance of FPGAs, CPUs, and other high-speed logic devices depends on the power distribution...

Recently, I used a shielded coaxial cable to measure power supply ripple and the results were even noisier than using an oscilloscope...

Many engineers are familiar with the Bode plot as an effective stability assessment method. However, some authors suggest and even teach...

Engineers are under constant pressure to improve the performance of their products while reducing product cost. The key to doing so is a...

Many SPICE models are available online that were created by IC and semiconductor manufacturers. Unfortunately, availability doesn’t...

The mathematics behind the non-invasive measurement was incorporated into the OMICRON Lab Bode 100 VNA software, sold by Picotest.com,...

Since no impedance path is perfectly flat, we need to make some design adjustments. This article aims to help you make compromises that...

There are many good analyzers available for measuring PDN High performance VNAs are available from all of the major test equipment...

For an undamped LC circuit excited by an AC voltage source through simple phaser equations, we come to see that the circuit becomes short...

In this 5-minute video, Steve Sandler of AEi Systems (www.aeng.com) and Picotest (www.picotest.com) takes you on a tour of an advanced...

You’re probably familiar with clamp on current probes, but chances are you don’t know much about the Rogowski current probe. A Rogowski...

In 1938 Hendrik Wade Bode, who worked at Bell Labs, published his asymptotic assessment of phase margin and gain margin, bearing his name...

He presents examples of various waveform anomalies and discusses techniques and tips for observing them as well as pitfalls to avoid....

Some low-dropout regulators (LDOs) use multiple feedback loops to improve output voltage transient response. In many of these cases, some...

And by taking measurements across all three test domains, designers can trace power supply ripple-related problems back to root causes...

The setup in Figure 2 illustrates the impact of poor quality connectors.  In this image, the TDR is deskewed with no cables attached to...

Because of their high ESL compared to ceramic, tantalum capacitors are not the optimum choice for high frequency decoupling. Paralleling...

With those measurement requirements as background, Sandler examines how switching frequency and duty cycle affect power supply stability...

A frequency response analyzer (‘FRA’) is often used to measure gain and phase plots of control loops (Bode plots), filter responses and...

A single tiny logic gate The first case we’ll look at is a Fairchild NC7SZ04 ultra-high-speed inverter gate. This logic gate is a single...