EstimatingEmissionsFromYourPrintedCircuitBoard.docVIP

Estimating Emissions From Your Printed Circuit Board by Roger Swanberg, D.L.S. Electronic Systems /archive/articles/0307/0307estimating_emisions.asp There is no question that there are many products on the market that use digital electronics in their design. A brief trip through your favorite computer or electronics equipment store should eliminate any doubt in your mind. Few, if any products use the hand-wired methods of the past. PCBs are the preferred technique to make that product as small and attractive as possible. The Effects of the Need for Speed Higher performance products can generate EMI that can affect the operation of other electronic equipment. Regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the European Union (EU) have set limits on how much EMI your equipment can radiate. One form of this is differential-mode radiation. Any current flowing in a loop will produce a magnetic field. If that current is AC and a second loop is in that magnetic field, the second loop will have a current flowing in it too. The current in the second loop is proportional to how much of the field is coupled to it and the current in the first loop. Figure 1a shows current flowing in a single circuit path on a PCB. Radio frequency EMI fields are emitted by the circuit loop and measured by an antenna at a distance. The strength of that EMI field at the antenna is: Figure 1a. Differential-Mode EMI Radiation From a PCB where: E = μV/meter f = MHz A = loop area (L × W) in cm2 I = loop current (amp) r = antenna to loop distance (m) To evaluate equation 1, perform a calculation of just one loop on the PCB. In this example, the circuit is wholly on one surface of the circuit board. The signal current flows out of IC 1 and goes into IC 2. The current isn’t going to just stop there. It has to return to the source (IC 1). So current flows through IC 2 out its ground pin, along the return c