The present invention relates to an electronic device-mounted apparatus. In particular, the present invention relates to an electronic device-mounted apparatus that is provided with electronic devices such as LSI that operate according to a clock signal, and a heat radiator provided on the electronic devices for dispersing heat that is generated by the operating current of the electronic devices. The present invention further relates to a noise suppression method for avoiding the propagation of clock signal harmonic noise in the heat radiator and the radiation of noise from the heat radiator.
An electronic device such as LSI that is composed of a single chip, that carries out the functions of main memory, control, and arithmetic operations, and that is used in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer or work station requires large current in order to realize high-speed processing capabilities. A heat radiator means was implemented in electronic devices of the related art to keep the temperature from exceeding the permissible temperature of the electronic device due to heat resulting from this large current. In the present specification, “electronic device” refers to a semiconductor finished-product having a package construction and not to a semiconductor bare chip.
Regarding the background art,
As shown in
When electronic devices 2 and 3 are operated by a clock signal, the clock signal has frequency components of a fundamental wave and a harmonic that is an integer multiple of the fundamental wave. The clock signal harmonic is propagated in printed board 1 and radiator plate 5 as noise. At such times, the noise current of the clock signal harmonic flows in radiator plate 5, but due to ground connection lines 6 that connect the ground circuit of printed board 1 and radiator plate 5, this noise current flows to the ground circuit of printed board 1. As a result, the radiation of clock signal harmonic noise from radiator plate 5 is suppressed.
As another example of the suppression of noise radiation, JP-A-H06-037512 (hereinbelow referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a construction in which a microstrip line substrate is secured onto a radiator plate, a case composed of metal is attached to the microstrip line substrate, and the hollow portion formed by the microstrip line substrate and case is filled with resin.
In addition, JP-A-H05-315470 (hereinbelow referred to as Patent Document 2) discloses a construction that is a multichip module in which a plurality of semiconductor bare chips are packaged on a substrate and sealed by an insulating layer, wherein a metallic layer is formed on the insulating layer as a heat radiator means and the metallic layer is connected to a ground layer of the substrate. In this Patent Document 2, a structure in which an insulating layer is interposed between the metallic layer and ground layer of the substrate acts as a capacitor component and is able to reduce the power supply-ground noise.
The problem that the present invention seeks to solve is next described.
In this configuration, clock signal harmonic noise that flows to the ground of printed board 1 flows to radiator plate 5 by way of ground connection lines 6, thereby raising the potential for noise superposition. Accordingly, the inventors of the present invention investigated electrically connecting capacitors 7 between radiator plate 5 and each of electronic devices 2 and 3 such that noise current that has flowed from ground connection lines 6 to radiator plate 5 flows to the ground of printed board 1.
Capacitance C of the capacitor formed as shown in
C=∈
0
∈rA/d [Formula 1]
In this case, ∈0 is the dielectric constant of free space, ∈r is the relative permittivity of the dielectric between the electrodes, A is the area that is found from dimensions a and b, and d is the distance between the two electrodes. For example, it will be assumed that the dimensions of electronic device 2 shown in
The capacitors having these capacitances are formed between radiator plate 5 and printed board 1 as capacitors 7 shown in
However, the flow of a portion of the noise current that flows through radiator plate 5 shown above to surfaces other than the printed board 1 side of radiator plate 5 raises the concern that noise will be superposed upon devices that are packaged by this electronic device mounting apparatus due to the strong magnetic field from radiator plate 5. Alternatively, the concern also exists that the specified noise range that applies to this device will not be satisfied due to the occurrence of, for example, noise radiation from the device.
In order to limit the strong magnetic field caused by the noise current that flows through this radiator plate, nearly all of the noise current that flows to the radiator plate must be caused to flow to the ground of the printed board.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device-mounted apparatus and a noise suppression method that can solve at least one of the above-described problems. An example of this object is to effectively cause noise current that flows to a radiator plate for dissipating the heat of an electronic device to flow to the ground of a printed board and thus reduce the level of the clock signal harmonic noise that is radiated from the radiator plate.
One mode of the present invention relates to an electronic device-mounted apparatus that includes: a printed board, one or a plurality of electronic devices that are mounted on the printed board and that operate by a clock signal, and a radiator means provided such that the electronic devices are interposed between the printed board and the radiator means.
In this apparatus, the above-described object can be realized by providing: connectors for connecting the radiator means and the ground of the printed board; and dielectric components that are independent of the electronic devices and that are interposed between the radiator means and the printed board at positions other than locations where the electronic devices are mounted.
In the construction disclosed in Patent Document 1, noise radiation from micro-strip lines is suppressed by a resin, and no configuration is disclosed in which noise current that flows in a radiator plate is caused to flow to the ground of a printed board.
Cited Reference 2 only vaguely describes the object of eliminating noise between the power supply and ground, and makes absolutely no disclosures regarding the points of the propagation of clock signal harmonic of an electronic device to a radiator plate and the avoidance of the radiation of the clock signal harmonic noise from the radiator plate. Still further, the configuration disclosed in Cited Reference 2 is a construction in which an insulating material that is a dielectric is packed to cover a plurality of semiconductor bare chips without gaps between a metallic layer that is a radiator means and a printed board. In other words, Cited Reference 2 is not a technique for using dielectric components, that are independently arranged between a radiator plate and a printed board, to actively cause the noise current of the clock signal harmonic that flows to the radiator plate to return toward the ground of the printed board and thus reduce noise radiation from the radiator plate. In addition, Cited Reference 2 is not an invention relating to an electronic device-mounted apparatus in which a semiconductor finished-product such as an LSI package is mounted.
Details of the embodiments of the present invention are next described with reference to the accompanying figures. Constituent elements that are identical to the configurations shown in
Heat-conductive sheet 4 and radiator plate 5 are stacked in that sequence over electronic devices 2 and 3 and thus rest on electronic devices 2 and 3. In other words, electronic devices 2 and 3 are interposed between printed board 1 and radiator plate 5. In the present example, moreover, the longitudinal dimensions of radiator plate 5 and printed board 1 are made substantially equal, and radiator plate 5 and the ground of printed board 1 are connected by means of ground connection lines 6 at the two ends in the longitudinal direction of radiator plate 5 and printed board 1.
Columnar dielectric components 12 are arranged between radiator plate 5 and printed board 1 at locations other than electronic devices 2 and 3 to electrically connect the ground of printed board 1 and radiator plate 5. Dielectric component 12 has substantially the same shape as the planar shape of electronic device 3, and a plurality of dielectric components 12 are arranged on printed board 1 from the ends at which ground connection lines 6 are connected to as far as the location of the installation of electronic device 2. In the present example, a plurality of dielectric components 12 and electronic devices 2 and 3 are arranged at substantially equal spacing over substantially the entire surface of the electronic device side of radiator plate 5.
Dielectric component 12 is a construction in which dielectric 14 of a predetermined shape is mounted on conductive plate 13 as shown in
As in the configuration shown in
According to the above configuration, the noise current of the clock signal harmonic that results from the operation of electronic devices 2 and 3 flows from the ground of printed board 1 to radiator plate 5 by way of ground connection lines 6. A plurality of capacitors formed by electronic devices 2 and 3 and a plurality of dielectric components 12 at a plurality of locations between radiator plate 5 and printed board 1 are interposed over substantially the entire surface of radiator plate 5, whereby nearly all noise current that flows over radiator plate 5 flows to the ground of printed board 1 and noise radiation from the surface of radiator plate 5 that is opposite that of the electronic device-side can be suppressed.
The plurality of dielectric components 12 are preferably arranged at locations that are as close as possible to the ends of radiator plate 5 to which ground connection lines 6, that are noise sources, are connected, rather than being arranged close to locations where electronic devices 2 and 3 are mounted. This is because paths can be secured in areas that are closer to the noise source for actively returning, to the ground of printed board 1, the noise current that flows from the noise sources to radiator plate 5.
The radiation noise suppression effect realized by the present embodiment is next described based on
Next,
Based on the results of the near magnetic field distribution according to the actually measured data of
In
At this time, noise radiation from radiator plate 5 becomes magnetic field strength proportional to the area made up by the paths of noise current. As a result, in the circuit shown in
Typically, impedance Z of the capacitor portion is represented by Z=1/(ωC) where ω=2πf (f being the frequency of the noise current). Accordingly, in order to actively cause noise current to flow to noise current path 19 of
In the case of electronic device-mounted apparatus shown in
In this case, a greater effect is obtained by arranging dielectric component 12 having capacitances C that increase with proximity to the locations at which ground connection lines 6 of radiator plate 5 are connected. This is because paths for actively returning noise current from ground connection lines 6 that are noise sources to the ground of printed board 1 can be guaranteed in areas close to the noise source of radiator plate 5. As a result, radiation noise (magnetic field strength) from radiator plate 5 is also reduced. Still further, when capacitors are also formed at electronic devices 2 and 3 by the configuration shown in
In addition, noise suppression that accords with the field strength distribution on radiator plate 5 can also be implemented in the present embodiment by using a plurality of dielectric components 12 having differing capacitances C. In other words, using a plurality of dielectric components 12 having greater capacitance C for locations at which the magnetic field strength on radiator plate 5 is relatively great can effectively reduce noise radiation from radiator plate 5.
As shown by
According to the above-described configuration, the noise current of the clock signal harmonic resulting from the operation of electronic devices 2 and 3 flows from the ground of printed board 1 to radiator plate 5 by way of ground connection lines 6. A plurality of capacitors formed by electronic devices 2 and 3 and a plurality of dielectric components 12 are interposed at a plurality of locations between radiator plate 5 and printed board 1 in areas of at least one-third the length of longitudinal dimension L of radiator plate from the ends of radiator plate 5 to which ground connection lines 6 are connected.
In this way, nearly all of the noise current that flows to radiator plate 5 from ground connection lines 6 that are noise sources can be actively returned to the ground of printed board 1 by the plurality of capacitors formed in one third of the above described areas on the ground connection line 6 side, and noise radiation from the surface of radiator plate 5 that is opposite the electronic device side can be suppressed.
For this purpose, a plurality of dielectric components 12 are more preferably arranged at positions that are as close as possible to the ends of radiator plate 5 to which ground connection lines 6, that are noise sources, are connected, rather than being arranged close to locations where electronic devices 2 and 3 are mounted. The reason for this is that many paths can be guaranteed in areas that are closer to the noise sources for actively returning, to the ground of printed board 1, the noise current that has flowed to radiator plate 5 from the noise sources. As in the first embodiment, noise suppression according to the position (magnetic field distribution) on radiator plate 5 can be realized by means of the plurality of capacitors that are formed between radiator plate 5 and printed beard 1.
In the present embodiment, one dielectric component 12 is interposed between printed board 1 and radiator plate 5 in an area having a length that is at least one-third of radiator plate longitudinal dimension L from the end of radiator plate 5 to which ground connection line 6 is connected. This dielectric component 12 is composed of a frame shape that encloses electronic device 3 on printed board 1 with spacing interposed, as shown in by the dotted lines in
In this embodiment as well, nearly all of the noise current that flows to radiator plate 5 from ground connection line 6 that is a noise source can be actively returned to the ground of printed board 1 by means of the capacitor formed in the above-described L/3 area on ground connection line 6 side to enable suppression of noise radiation from the surface of radiator plate 5 that is opposite the electronic device side.
In the previously described first to third embodiments, components composed of a dielectric and conductive plates as shown in
Accordingly, dielectric component that is made up from only dielectric can be applied in each of the above-described embodiments. In addition, the planar shape of a dielectric component in the present embodiment was rectangular, but other shapes such as an oval may also be used.
The electronic device-mounted apparatus of the present invention that was described by taking the embodiments as examples is an apparatus arranged such that electronic devices are interposed between a printed board and a radiator means. This apparatus is provided with: connectors for connecting the radiator means and the ground of the printed board, and dielectric components that are interposed between the printed board and radiator means at sites other than the mounting sites of electronic devices. These dielectric components are components arranged to be isolated from the electronic devices.
The following points can be taken as another embodiment of this invention.
Another embodiment is an electronic device-mounted apparatus provided with: connectors for connecting the above-described radiator means and ground of a printed board at the longitudinal end portions of the radiator means; and dielectric components interposed between the printed board and the radiator means at positions that are isolated from the sites where electronic devices are mounted. This apparatus is characterized by the provision of dielectric components in areas having one-third the length of the longitudinal dimension of the radiator means from the longitudinal end portions of the radiator means to which the connectors are connected.
In this embodiment, the dielectric components preferably have substantially the same shape as the electronic devices or have a frame shape that encloses the electronic devices.
Still further, the above-described dielectric components are preferably made up from a dielectric having a predetermined shape and a conductive plate installed on the bottom surface of the dielectric, and the conductive plate preferably is connected to the ground of the printed board.
Another embodiment is an electronic device-mounted apparatus characterized by the interposition of the dielectric that makes up the above-described dielectric components between a ground pattern formed on the surface layer of the printed board and the radiator means. In this embodiment as well, the dielectric components preferably have substantially the same shape as the electronic devices, or have frame shapes that enclose the electronic devices.
In another embodiment such as described above, a plurality of dielectric components is preferably provided, and the capacitance C of each of the dielectric components preferably differs according to the magnetic field distribution of the radiator means. In this case, the plurality of dielectric components preferably have capacitances C that increase with greater proximity to the sites of the radiator means at which the connectors are connected.
Another embodiment is a noise suppression method of an electronic device-mounted apparatus that includes: a printed board, one or a plurality of electronic devices that are mounted on the printed board and that operate according to a clock signal, and a radiator means provided such that the electronic devices are interposed between the printed board and the radiator means. This method is characterized by: connecting the radiator means and the ground of the printed board, and interposing a plurality of dielectric components between the printed board and the radiator means in positions that are isolated from the sites where the electronic devices are mounted to suppress the radiation of noise from the side of the radiator means that is opposite the printed board.
In each of the embodiments described hereinabove, not only are the radiator means and the ground of the printed board connected, but the radiator plate and printed board are also connected by dielectric components over a plurality of sites that are isolated from the sites where the electronic devices are mounted. As a result, nearly all of the noise current of the clock signal harmonic that has flowed to the radiator means from the printed board and through the connectors can be returned to the ground of the printed board by the dielectric components. In this way, the radiation of clock signal harmonic noise from the radiator means can be suppressed to a low level.
Thus, according to the present invention, clock signal harmonic noise that is propagated to the radiator means from electronic devices that operate according to a clock signal and that is radiated from the radiator means can be decreased. In other words, the strength of the magnetic field that is generated from the radiator means of an electronic device-mounted apparatus can be reduced to a low level.
Although described hereinabove with regard to embodiments of the present invention, the invention of the present application is not limited to the above-described embodiments and is of course open to various modifications that do not depart from the spirit or scope of the invention.
This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application 2007-035124 for which application was submitted on Feb. 15, 2007 and incorporates all disclosures of that invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2007-035124 | Feb 2007 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2008/052366 | 2/13/2008 | WO | 00 | 8/14/2009 |