A novel z-directed embedded component for the reduction of voltage ripple on the power distribution network for PCBs

A new capacitor package and PCB embedding technique is introduced to significantly reduce the system power distribution network impedance at the pads of surface mounted integrated circuits. The capacitor is multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) that is a right cylindrical shape with via channels in the outer wall along the axis of the part. The capacitor called a Z-Directed component (ZDC) is then pressed into a hole in the PCB. The connections to the component are then made by the copper plating process similar to via hole construction. This new configuration dramatically improves the PDN performance of PCBs with fewer components than the conventional solution with SMD decoupling capacitors.

I. Introduction

Today's high speed digital electronics operate at clock frequencies as high as 5.5GHz, which require a power distribution network (PDN) that can maintain a constant voltage at several higher harmonics of this clock frequency. This requires the parallel combinations of printed circuit board (PCB) decoupling capacitors, power plane capacitance, on package capacitors and on-die decoupling [1] [2]. The limiting factor for the performance of these components is the parasitic inductances created by the paths that the current has to propagate to get to the load which are the switching transistors on the integrated circuits (IC).