The present invention relates to a printed circuit board. Particularly, the invention is suited for use in a printed circuit board designed to realize impedance matching between signal pins of a surface mount connector and signal pin pads, which are connected to the signal pins, on the printed circuit board.
Conventionally, when a surface mount connector is connected to a printed circuit board and an attempt is made to transmit a high-speed signal from the surface mount connector via the printed circuit board, there are problems of occurrence of noises and reflections and degradation of signal quality.
Specifically speaking, capacitive coupling takes place between signal pin pads, which are connected to signal pins of the surface mount connector, on the printed circuit board and a ground layer provided directly below the signal pin pads and this capacitive coupling causes an impedance reduction of the signal pin pads. If the impedance of the signal pin pads reduces, a reflection is generated due to impedance unmatching between the signal pins of the surface mount connector and the signal pin pads connected to the signal pins. As a result, the signal quality degrades.
Since previously a transmission speed was comparatively low, rise time/fall time of a transmission signal was larger than electrical length of the signal pin pad portion. Therefore, even if the impedance of a signal pin pads reduces and a reflection is generated due to the impedance unmatching, its reflection amount is substantially small and has a low impact on the signal quality.
However, in recent years, the rise/fall time of the transmission signal has become shorter than the electrical length of the signal pin pad portion because of an increase of the transmission speed. So, if the impedance of the signal pin pads reduces, the reflection amount of the reflection generated due to the impedance unmatching increases. As a result, the impact on the signal quality becomes significant.
Consequently, various techniques capable of preventing the reduction of the impedance of the signal pin pads even in a case of a high transmission speed are examined and disclosed.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique that attempts to realize impedance matching by chipping off a central portion of a signal pin pad to divide the signal pin pad into two pieces so that a joint portion between a signal pin of a surface mount connector and the signal pin pad will be only both ends of the signal pin, and reducing the area of the signal pin pad opposite a ground layer directly below the signal pin pad, thereby reducing the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad and the ground layer and preventing the reduction of the impedance of the signal pin pad. Incidentally, the signal pin and the signal pin pad are soldered and the central portion of the signal pin after soldering becomes bulged without forming a fillet.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 discloses a technique that attempts to realize impedance matching by chipping off one end of a signal pin of a surface mount connector to reduce the area of the signal pin in contact with a signal pin pad, and downsizing the signal pin pad accordingly to reduce the area of the signal pin pad opposite a ground layer directly below the signal pin pad, thereby reducing the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad and the ground layer and preventing the reduction of the impedance of the signal pin pad. There is also disclosed a technique that attempts to realize impedance matching by also chipping off the ground layer directly below the signal pin pad to reduce the ground layer, which is opposite the signal pin pad and located directly below the signal pin pad, reducing the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad and the ground layer, and preventing the reduction of the impedance of the signal pin pad.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 2009-141170
[Patent Literature 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 2011-119123
However, regarding the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 1, the central portion of the signal pin pad, which is to be connected to the signal pin of the surface mount connector, on the printed circuit board is chipped off. If the signal pin pad is not chipped off, the central portion of the soldered signal pin is chipped off. So, an area where fillets are formed is reduced as compared to the case in which the relevant portions are soldered. Therefore, a problem of degradation of joint reliability arises at a joint portion between the signal pin of the surface mount connector and the signal pin pad on the printed circuit board.
Moreover, regarding the technique disclosed in Patent Literature 2, one end of the signal pin is chipped off and the size of the signal pin pad to be connected to the signal pin is reduced accordingly. So, a joint area between the signal pin and the signal pin pad is reduced as compared to the case in which the signal pin and the signal pin pad are not chipped off. Therefore, an area where the fillet is formed is reduced as compared to the case in which the relevant portions are soldered. As a result, the problem of degradation of joint reliability arises at the joint portion between the signal pin of the surface mount connector and the signal pin pad on the printed circuit board.
Furthermore, when the ground layer directly below the signal pin pad is chipped off and if a signal line is located directly below the chipped-off ground layer, a return current of the signal cannot be secured and the signal quality will degrade. Therefore, since the signal line cannot be located directly below the position of the chipped-off part of the ground layer, a problem of reduction of a wirable area occurs.
The present invention was devised in consideration of the above-described circumstances and aims at proposing a printed circuit board capable of realizing impedance matching by securing joint reliability and preventing the impedance reduction of the signal pin pads.
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides a printed circuit board including a signal pin pad, which is soldered to a signal pin from a surface mount connector, and a ground layer located as a lower layer below the signal pin pad, wherein a fillet is formed around a joint area between the signal pin and the signal pin pad after soldering; a cut-out portion is provided in the joint area of the signal pin pad connected with the signal pin; the size of the cut-out portion is set within the range of being completely covered within the joint area with the signal pin, based on size tolerance of the signal pin, fabrication tolerance of the printed circuit board, and mount position tolerance of the surface mount connector; and the ground layer is chipped off as necessary and a chipped-off area is made as small as possible.
According to the present invention, it is possible to realize impedance matching by securing joint reliability and preventing reduction of the impedance of the signal pin pads.
An embodiment of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to drawings.
Incidentally, a conventional printed circuit board has a problem of generation of capacitive coupling between the signal pin pads and the ground layer located directly below the signal pin pads, thereby causing the reduction of impedance of the signal pin pads. When the impedance of the signal pin pads reduces, a reflection is caused due to impedance unmatching between the signal pins and the signal pin pads, which results in degradation of signal quality. According to the present invention, this impedance reduction of the signal pin pads can be prevented by adopting the configuration described later.
Moreover, the ground pin 4 is connected to the ground pin pad 6 via a soldered joint portion 12 and a fillet 13. Incidentally, a cut-out portion is not provided, or may be provided, at a central part of the ground pin pad 6.
Furthermore, a surface insulating layer 14 is placed as an upper layer above the ground layer 7 and a resist layer 15 is placed as an upper layer above the surface insulating layer 14. On the other hand, an intermediate insulating layer 16 is placed as a lower layer below the ground layer 7, a signal layer 17 is placed as a lower layer below the intermediate insulating layer 16, a second intermediate insulating layer 18 is placed as a louver layer below the signal layer 17, and a second ground layer 19 is placed as a lower layer below the intermediate insulating layer 18. A signal line 20 is located in the signal layer 17.
Furthermore, as illustrated in
Under this circumstance, the size (width and length) of the cut-out portion 11 according to this embodiment is set within the range of being completely covered by the signal pin 3 even in consideration of size tolerance of the signal pin 3, fabrication tolerance M of the printed circuit board 1, and mount position tolerance N of the surface mount connector 2. If the cut-out portion 11 is set within the range of being completely covered by the signal pin 3 in this way, the fillet 10 can be formed around the joint portion between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5 which are soldered to each other even if the cut-out portion 11 is provided in the signal pin pad 5; and, therefore, joint reliability can be secured.
When L1 represents size tolerance of the signal pin 3 in its widthwise direction, M1 represents fabrication tolerance of the printed circuit board 1 in its widthwise direction, and N1 represents mount position tolerance of the surface mount connector 2 in its widthwise direction, variations of tolerances are usually normal distribution and the sum of the tolerances can be expressed by the sum of squares of tolerance elements. So, the width E of the cut-out portion 11 according to this embodiment is set within the range satisfying the following Formula (1).
[Math. 1]
E<D−√{square root over (L12+M12+N12)} (1)
By setting the width E of the cut-out portion 11 within the range satisfying the above Formula (1), the fillet 10 can be formed in the same manner as in the conventional case around the joint portion between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5 which have being soldered. Joint reliability with aged degradation of the soldered joint portion 9 which is connected by soldering is decided depending on the area where the fillet 10 is formed. Since the area where the fillet 10 is formed is secured in this embodiment in the same manner as in the conventional case, the same degree of joint reliability between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5 as that of the conventional case can be secured.
Moreover, the ground pin 4 is connected to the ground pin pad 6 via the soldered joint portion 12 and the fillet 13.
Furthermore, as illustrated in
When L2 represents size tolerance of the signal pin 3 in its lengthwise direction. M2 represents fabrication tolerance of the printed circuit board 1 in its lengthwise direction, and N2 represents mount position tolerance of the surface mount connector 2 in its lengthwise direction under the above-described circumstance, variations of tolerances are usually normal distribution and the sum of the tolerances can be expressed by the sum of squares of tolerance elements. So, the length K of the cut-out portion 11 according to this embodiment is set within the range satisfying the following Formula (2).
[Math. 2]
K<J−√{square root over (L22+M22+N22)} (2)
By setting the length K of the cut-out portion 11 within the range satisfying the above Formula (2), the fillet 10 can be formed in the same manner as in the conventional case around the joint portion between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5 which have been soldered. Joint reliability with aged degradation of the soldered joint portion 9 which is connected by soldering is decided depending on the area where the fillet 10 is formed. Since the area where the fillet 10 is formed is secured in this embodiment in the same manner as in the conventional case, the same degree of joint reliability between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5 as that of the conventional case can be secured.
If the center of the cut-out portion 11 is set to the center of the area where the signal pin 3 overlaps with the signal pin pad 5, based on the above Formula (2), it is possible to cut out the signal pin pad 5 most efficiently.
When the surface mount connector 2 is a general DDR connector, the width D of the signal pin 3 is 0.5 mm and the length J of the soldered joint portion 9 is 0.9 mm. If size tolerances L1 and L2 of the signal pin 3 are ±0.05 mm, fabrication tolerances M1and M2 of the printed circuit board 11 are ±0.05 mm, and mount position tolerances N1 and N2 of the surface mount connector 21 are ±0.05 mm, the maximum width E to cut out the signal pin pad 5 according to the above Formula (1) can be 0.41 mm and the maximum length K to cult out the signal pin pad 5 according to the above Formula (2) can be 0.81 mm.
According to the above Formula (3) and the simulation results of
With the printed circuit board 1 according to this embodiment as explained above, it is possible to prevent the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad 5 and the ground layer 7 and prevent the impedance reduction of the signal pin pad 5 by providing the cut-out portion 11. Furthermore, it is possible to secure the area to form the fillet 10 by setting the size of the cut-out portion 11 as an appropriate size. Therefore, according to this embodiment, it is possible to prevent the impedance reduction of the signal pin pad 5 and secure joint reliability between the signal pin 3 and the signal pin pad 5.
The difference between a printed circuit board according to a second embodiment and the printed circuit board 1 according to the first embodiment is that a chipped-off portion is provided in part of a ground layer for the printed circuit board according to the second embodiment. The same configuration as that of the first embodiment is given the same reference numeral as in the first embodiment, an explanation about it has been omitted, and any different configuration will be explained.
The increased impedance amount Y is calculated as an approximate value according to the following Formula (4) based on the simulation results of
According to the above Formula (4) and the simulation results of
With the printed circuit board 1 according to this embodiment as explained above, it is possible to prevent the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad 5 and the ground layer 7 and prevent the impedance reduction of the signal pin pad 5 by providing the cut-out portion 11 and the chipped-off portion 21. Furthermore, it is possible to effectively increase the increased impedance amount Y along with the increase of the width E of the cut-out portion 11 by setting the width F of the chipped-off portion 21 as small as possible.
The difference between a printed circuit board according to a third embodiment and the printed circuit board according to a second embodiment is that a chipped-off portion in a ground layer is divided into two portions in the second embodiment. The same configuration as that of the first and second embodiments is given the same reference numeral as in the first and second embodiments, an explanation about it has been omitted, and any different configuration will be explained.
Referring to
According to the simulation results in
[Math. 5]
F<2E−C+0.7 (5)
According to the above Formula (5) and the simulation results of
With the printed circuit board 1 according to this embodiment as explained above, it is possible to prevent the capacitive coupling between the signal pin pad 5 and the ground layer 7 and prevent the impedance reduction of the signal pin pad 5 by providing the cut-out portion 11 and the chipped-off portions 21. Furthermore, it is possible to effectively increase the increased impedance amount Y by setting the positions and range of the chipped-off portions 21 to appropriate positions and range according to the width E of the cut-out portion 11 and the thickness C of the surface insulating layer 14.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/JP2012/065406 | 6/15/2012 | WO | 00 | 5/22/2015 |