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Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1547121
OCTOBER 2026 I I-CONNECT007 MAGAZINE 39 Resources Beyond Design by Barry Olney: "Micro-ohm Power Delivery Network for AI-driven GPUs," "The Fundamental Structure of Spectral Integrity," "Embedded Capacitance Material," "The Impact of PDN Impedance on EMI," "The Target Impedance Approach to PDN Design," "PDN Planning." I-CONNECT007 Barry Olney is managing director of In-Circuit Design Pty Ltd (iCD), Austra- lia, a PCB design service bureau that specializes in board-level simulation. The company developed the iCD Design Integrity software incorporating the iCD Stackup, PDN, and CPW Planner. The software can be downloaded at www.icd.com.au. To read past columns, click here. B E YO N D D ES I G N Key Points • Inductance shapes nearly every facet of signal integrity and power integrity. • Moving a voltage between two components requires moving energy (not a signal). • Mutual inductance is when two magnetic fields react and is the root cause of crosstalk, switching noise, and timing uncertainty. • In the time domain, a decoupling capacitor acts as a local energy reservoir, supplying instantaneous current to the processor during fast load transients until the voltage regulator can respond. • In the frequency domain, that same capacitor reduces the PDN's AC impedance around its self-resonant frequency, enabling more high-frequency current to reach the IC with minimal voltage noise. • Every capacitor includes an equivalent series inductance (ESL) component, which causes its impedance to rise at high frequencies. • The power/ground plane pair acts almost like a perfect capacitor, with negligible inductance (no leads) and very low equivalent series resistance (ESR). • The loop area formed by the capacitor, its vias, and the planes determines mounting inductance.