Decoupling Capacitors Placement at Board Level Adopting a Nature-Inspired Algorithm

• DOI: 10.3390/electronics8070737
• Publication Date: 2019-07-01T07:23:59Z
• Authors: Stefano Piersanti; Riccardo Cecchetti; Carlo Olivieri; Francesco de Paulis; Antonio Orlandi; Markus Buecker
• Keywords: genetic algorithm (GA); signal integrity; power integrity; decoupling capacitors; 0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering; 02 engineering and technology; power delivery network; Decoupling capacitors; Genetic algorithm (GA); Nature-inspired algorithm (NIA); Power delivery network; Power integrity; Signal integrity; nature-inspired algorithm (NIA); 7. Clean energy

Decoupling capacitors are fundamental keys for the reduction of transient noise in power delivery networks; their arrangement and values are crucial for reaching this goal. This work deals with the optimization of the decoupling capacitors of a power delivery network by using a nature-inspired algorithm. In particular, the capacitance value and the location of three decoupling capacitors are optimized in order to obtain an input impedance below a specific mask, by using a nature-inspired algorithm, the genetic one, in combination with two electromagnetic solvers used to compute the objective function. An experimental board is designed and manufactured; measurements are performed to validate the numerical results.