Low Inductance Capacitors for High-Speed Decoupling
Written By: Robert Lu

Abstract:
Modern integrated circuits (IC’s) consume power at rapidly varying rates due to the density of circuits on-board and the extreme speed at which they can operate. Power supplies are required to respond to these changes in load current while maintaining a constant operating voltage. This task is becoming increasingly difficult as the complexity of power distribution networks grows and printed circuit board (PCB) design requires optimization for parasitic inductance and capacitance. Therefore, any power supply performance slack must be absorbed by the all-too-common decoupling capacitor. As shown in Figure 1, a decoupling capacitor is simply an additional parallel capacitance that provides a stable voltage and source of current when the main power supply is unable to adjust quickly enough or is too far away to properly function.

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