Performance analysis of signal vias using virtual islands with shorting vias in multilayer PCBs

The mitigation method of parallel-plate waveguide (PPW) noises excited from signal vias due to the mode conversion of desired propagation modes into parasitic PPW modes in multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs) has been proposed. The mitigation of PPW noises has been achieved using virtual islands with shorting vias. The shorting vias are used to provide the return current path with low impedances and the virtual islands are used to block the propagation of the PPW noises through PCBs. The transmission and coupling responses of signal vias applied to the virtual islands with shorting vias are calculated using the finite-difference time-domain method to show effectiveness of the proposed mitigation method of PPW noises. The PPW noises propagating through PPWs are dramatically suppressed and the electrical performances of signal vias in multilayer PCBs are improved using the proposed method. The effectiveness of the proposed mitigation method of PPW noises is also verified by measurements of S-parameters of signal vias in simple test boards applied to the virtual islands with shorting vias. The effects of geometrical parameters of the virtual islands on performances of signal vias are also investigated. The performances of signal vias applied to the virtual islands with shorting vias can be improved up to higher frequency by reducing the size of virtual islands. The effect of the gapwidth of slots can be neglected. The effective number of shorting vias of the proposed mitigation method is four. Since several signal vias can be located at a virtual island, the needed number of shorting vias to obtain good transmission and coupling responses using the proposed mitigation method is less than half of that to obtain similar performance using only shorting vias.