Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2006. EMC-Zurich 2006. 17th International Zurich Symposium on , vol., no., pp.

557-560, 27
Feb.-3 March 2006

Teaching Near Field Coupling with PCB layout

W.-J. Timothy Foo1, Johnny Chee2
Ngee Ann Polytechnic, School of Engineering, ECE Division, BME Center
1
Email: fwj@np.edu.sg
2
Email: chj@np.edu.sg

Abstract — A novel EMC laboratory experiment to waveform generator with an amplifier acting on a circular
illustrate the effects of near field coupling is presented. loop, and [4] that uses other more specialized instruments
Using two separate printed circuit boards (PCB), one being
the emitter PCB with a digital oscillator circuit driving like a vector impedance meter or LCR meter.
current in a loop, and the other being a receptor PCB
having passive loop of identical size. An LED on board the
receptor PCB gives visual feedback on the intensity of the
III. TEST SETUP
coupling. The experiment helps to illustrates the effect of Firstly, the experiment was used to investigate how
implementing several design rules. The effects are analysed
using equivalent circuits to explain coupling.
certain PCB copper track layout patterns can be
Lessons learnt from this experiment can be readily susceptible to magnetic field coupling. The effect of both
applicable to Multi-layer PCB design. vertical and horizontal (or lateral) separation between the
primary and secondary loops was demonstrated. An
extension of the experiment involves investigating the
I. INTRODUCTION
effect of an open-circuit in the primary loop. Further
steps in the experiment required a sheet of metal to be
In teaching medical instrumentation to our second year
placed under the primary loop with the secondary loop on
students, a chapter on EMC supported with a 2 hour
top. This conductive plane acts as a shield and
laboratory experiment has been added to the curriculum.
demonstrates the effect of Lenz Law. Finally the
The goal of the chapter is to demystify EMC and help our
experiment gets the student to observe the effect of using
students develop useful skills especially when handling
different IC families on near field coupling.
high-speed digital and radio-frequency designs.
We decided to use the limited time available for the A. Near Field Radiated Emission and Magnetic Coupling
experiment, to teach EMC with respect to some design
rules for high-speed digital systems and its effect on PCB Near-field coupling
layout. One design rule [1] states that “lateral separation dominated by the H Coupling

is more effective than vertical separation”, another states LED

field as in the case Source
RLP
that “keep loop areas small” while yet a third states that between two loops di di
Victim
vi
v i =L2 dt2 + M dt1
“Chose logic families that are no faster than necessary” can be modeled by
for the purpose of the design. the mutual induc- Source M Victim
The experiment involves quantifying the effect of near tance M, the self LED
RLP L1 L2
field coupling between an inverter driving a load, to an inductance of the
unintentional receptor circuit in the light of those rules. secondary loop L2 Fig. 1. Magnetic coupling bet-
and the rate of ween two loops.
change of the M = k L1 × L2
II. THEORY currents in both the loops. M is determined by: (i) the
inductance of both loops which is a function of the area
An inverter (74ACT04) driving a low impedance load
covered by the loops and (ii) the coupling factor, k as in
RLP of 10Ω via a rectangular loop (PCB track) acts like
the equation shown above.
the primary winding of an air-core transformer. The
second PCB with an identical loop can be used to
simulate additional layers on a multi-layer PCB design. B. Test Environment
This loop on the second PCB, acts like a secondary The circuit for the emitter PCB was designed such that
winding of one turn. An LED was used in the secondary different loop sizes and hence their loop areas can be
loop to visually demonstrate that near field coupling is ‘selected’ by switches [2].
not a negligible condition. An ultra bright LED The receptor PCB has a single loop connected to an
dramatizes the effect. Low-cost, large bandwidth digital LED which acts as a load. The LED gives a visual
storage oscilloscopes (DSO) make it practical to conduct indication of the intensity of the interference. The
the experiment for each of the 10 groups of the class of receptor PCB is placed first on top of the emitter PCB
20 students. with their copper track loops insulated from each other
The TTL inverter switches at 10 MHz driving a load by a sheet of thin 0.2 mm plastic film.. Large C-shaped
current around a rectangular loop. The excitation circuit clothes pegs secure the two PCBs together and keep their
was originally designed for radiated emission in the far separation constant. The experiment is conducted well
field [2]. This experiment was inspired by another
coupling experiment [3] that uses a RF sinusoidal
Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2006. EMC-Zurich 2006. 17th International Zurich Symposium on , vol., no., pp. 557-560, 27 Feb.-3
March 2006

away from large metallic structures or surfaces and does from a complex waveform. Care have to be taken to
not required a shield room. check the location of the boundary cursers to ensure that
complete whole number of cycles are selected by the
C. Alignment and Measurement Reference DSO to compute the RMS value.
The loops of the two PCBs are aligned at 10MHz to
obtained maximum interference. This is visually IV. PROCEDURE AND RESULTS
observed by maximum brightness of the LED on the
receptor PCB and the induced RMS voltage as measured
A. Frequency Response
by a digital storage oscilloscope.
Switches on the primary loop are first used to select the
largest of the two primary loop areas. Measured intensity Measurements are made as a ratio of vi, resulting from the
of the induced voltage vi, for the larger primary loop viL, two sizes of the primary loop areas. These are repeated
is and used as the reference to calculate the coupling in at different frequencies between 100kHz to 15MHz. The
dB to compare the results ⎛ viS ⎞ student is expected to be calculating and plot the
from the smaller primary Coupling (dB ) = 20 log10 ⎜⎜ v ⎟⎟ coupling ratio as the experiment proceeds. The results of
⎝ iL ⎠ the frequency response characteristics are graphically
loop induced viS .
illustrated in Fig.4.
1 mm 14.8 cm
12.2 cm

Coupling Reduction w hen primary loop (RLP =10

74ACT04 dB Ω ) is reduced by half size, secondary loop
load on primary 3.5 loaded by LED

loop, R LP =10Ω 3

Fig. 1.
2.5
2
Fig. 2. Selected loop sizes on the digital emitter PCB acts as an 1.5
interfering source. SW2 and SW3 are shown in the ‘large loop’
position. Dimensions as shown are used to determine the loop 1 coupling
inductances and capacitances for the equivalent circuit. 0.5
reduction (dB) freq (MHz)
0
-0.5 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
LED as load on
secondary loop as Fig. 4. Frequency response characteristics between full and half
measurement and primary loop size.
observation location

14.8 cm

4
Fig. 3. Secondary loop or ‘victim’ circuit.

Y
D. Instrumentation Setup Z
X ‘VICTIM’
The experimental boards was designed to operate from secondary loop
‘SOURCE’
either a standard DC Power Supply or from a 9V battery. with LED
Main PCB
It is fitted with sockets for a DIP (dual inline package)
Primary loop
TTL/CMOS oscillator module or in the place of the
oscillator module connect to a standard laboratory signal
generator. If common mode currents is a problem, than
these boards can be operated from a 9V battery and the
Fig. 5. Picture showing the setup for the frequency response
plug-in oscillator module [2]. Voltage measurements are measurement using a DC Power Supply and a Function Generator,
measured by the build in function of the DSO to compute with X, Y & Z axis orientation.
the cyclic RMS value of the waveform done by taking the
average over 64 cycles to reduce the effect of common
mode interference from the mains. One important point B. Vertical Separation
to note is the built in algorithm to detect for the Measurement of is done (at 10MHz) to investigate the
“complete cycle” can often give an erroneous combined effect of different vertical (Z-axis) separation
interpretation of what is a full cycle of the fundamental. on the coupling. Small pieces of PCB laminates (with no
This is especially true when the coupling is week and the copper foil!) of 1.5 mm thick are used as spacers.
measurement is done in the presence of strong harmonics
Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2006. EMC-Zurich 2006. 17th International Zurich Symposium on , vol., no., pp. 557-560, 27 Feb.-3
March 2006

0.2 mm 1.5 mm 3 mm
Vertical Separation
(minimal) (1 spacer) (2 spacer)
Circuit (s) Topology and resultant
L S L S L S
Coupling Ratio (dB)
RLP=10 Ω 0 ±0.3 (ref*) -2.5±1.0 -2.5±0.1 -6.0±0.2 -3.9±0.1 -7.3
LED
RLP=open -2.4~-5.3 -6.6~-8.4 -6.9~-10.3 -10.3~-14.6 -12.0~-12.8 -16.7~-18.9
10kΩ RLP=10 Ω 0.5±0.2 -3.3 -3.4 -7.1 -4.9 -8.7
RLP=10 Ω -3.0±0.1 -9.1±1.4 -8.0±0.3 -12 -12 -16
CP LED
RLP=open -0.9 -1.6 -4.7±0.3 -9.1±0.4 -9.4 -11.8
CP, 10kΩ RLP=open -3.5 -6.7±1.7 -8.4 -13 -12 -16
L = Large Pri. Loop, S=Smaller Pri. Loop, CP= Conductive Plane under Pri. Loop, LED = LED as load on Sec. loop, 10kΩ= resistive load in Sec. loop. Unless otherwise

stated all measurements are better than ±0.4dB (or in absolute terms ±5%).

TABLE I, SUMMARY OF NEAR FIELD COUPLING AT VARIOUS VERTICAL SEPARATION

IC (Technology Family) ACT04 (ref) 74F04 74HCT04 74S04 74LS04 std. TTL
Coupling Ratio (dB) 0 ±0.1 -5.0 -5.0 ±0.6 -6.3 ±0.5 -7.6 ±0.5 -10.0 ±0.5
TABLE II, SUMMARY OF NEAR FIELD COUPLING FROM USING ICS OF VARIOUS TECHNOLOGY FAMILIES

The ‘glow’ is very dim and may not be readily seen

unless the user look through the LED’s ‘lens’. Loading
and common mode interference can be a problem at this
stage.
Z ‘Victim’ circuit, secondary loop
Y X
(a)
(b)
spacer
Fig. 6. Cross sectional view of the ‘stack’ with XZ plane
orientation. Stack is shown, (a) at the minimal space between the
two loops (without spacer) and (b) with 1.5 mm spacers.
C. LED vs Resistive load
A control measurement is made to check the validity
by using a resistor in place of a LED as a load in the
secondary loop. This is done with another identical sec-
ondary loop fitted with a 10kΩ load. The results of the
experiment with the LED and 10 kΩ load on the
secondary are tabulated in Table 1. These empirical
results show that the difference is minimal at ±0.8dB.
D. Horizontal or Lateral Separation
While aligning the two loops in Subsection A the
student would have the opportunity to observe that a
lateral offset of 4 to 5 mm can reduce the coupling by
about 2dB. This is done by shifting the secondary loop
in the:
(i) X;
(ii) Y and
(iii) XY direction.
In all three cases the target is to obtain a value of the
horizontal separating distance where the reduction in the
coupling is roughly equivalent to that of the reduction in
primary loop area by half. A coupling reduction of 2.5dB
can be obtain by ∆x=5mm OR alternatively ∆y= 4mm
OR ∆x=2mm, ∆y=1.7mm (estimated ±0.2 mm).
E. Effect of an Open Circuit in the Primary Loop
The primary loop can be made to be open-circuited in
3 (three) places. Each will show different results.
There are 3 variables (RLP and switches SW2 and
tape SW3) making a set of 8 different possibilities. To keep
the test measurement simple, one measurements are made
1.5 mm
(with SW2 and SW3 ‘flip UP’ (as in the position for the
large primary loop) with RLP removed and no spacers
between the two loops at 10MHz.
F. Conductive Plane and IC Families
In this subsection, a metal plate is placed beneath the
primary loop. The student will observe that the metal
plate is not connected to the ‘Ground’ of the primary
circuit and yet the presence of the metal plain will reduce
the coupling. This is Lenz Law in action!
Finally, the student can replace the inverter on the PCB
with an IC from different TTL families and take their
investigations to measure the coupling by ICs types:
ACT; F; HCT; LS and standard TTL. The result shows
that digital circuits implemented with ICs having slower
response times will have less coupling problems.
V. DISCUSSION WITH STUDENTS
The variation of the coupling as the frequency changes
from 100 kHz to 15MHz points to the presence of many
modes. When the primary loop area changes by half
(3dB), coupling from the frequency response
characteristics shows 2.4±0.7dB, in agreement with theory.
The empirical results from section IV sub-part B and E,
suggested that a doubling of the vertical distance roughly
translate to 3dB (1.3~1.6dB without the conductive
plane, to 3~4dB in the presence of the conductive plane).
unless the load on the primary loop is open then the
measurement became more erratic. A mixture of
different coupling modes is in play. Much care was
needed to avoid the pit falls of trusting the algorithms
used by the DSO (see Part III sub-part D). The
Electromagnetic Compatibility, 2006. EMC-Zurich 2006. 17th International Zurich Symposium on , vol., no., pp. 557-560, 27 Feb.-3
March 2006
conductive plane becomes the coupling plane negating
the coupling from the metallic parts of the primary loop!
Since the conductive plane is so much larger. The
vertical separation had no effect!
The results from part III D, shows an asymmetric res-
ponse to lateral offset between the two loops. The
rectangular loop is longer in the X direction and more
lateral offset between the two loops are needed in the X
direction to reduce the coupling by the same amount! It
turns out that the ratio of the rectangle, length (X) to
breath (Y) is 1.2. The lateral offset ratio is 1.25.
The first reaction is the intensity of the LED as it reacts
to the energy collected from the coupling. At the
maximum coupling position a high efficiency or ultra-
bright LED can really shines with an intensity that
surprises the uninitiated. The second reaction is that the
coupling is not entirely inductive because when the
primary is open, the interference remains, abet with the
LED much darken.
It is possible to develop an equivalent circuit. The
derivation of circuit inductance is a task for the over-
acivers [7, 8]. Fortunately the www can provide tools to
get an estimate. The full size primary loop L1, was
calculated with [5] using a wire of radius 0.32 mm being
equivalent to the surface area or cross section perimeter
to that of a flat PCB track of 1 mm width, considering
that skin depth δ, is 0.1 mm at 350kHz. L1.works out to
be 570 nH. The inter-track capacitance C1 and C2 can
be found to be 5.4pF, by using the well know formula for
two parallel plates, similarly C3 can be estimated to be
4.1pF. The assumption being εr=4.7 for FR4 used.
When the smaller primary loop S, is used the smaller
primary loop changes L1 to 400nH and C1 and C2 is
reduced to 1.7pF. These parameters are used to create a
more sophisticated equivalent circuit that can be
simulated using SPICE. LT-SPICE [6] was used for the
calculations and the RMS values are used to determine
the ratio of the reduction in coupling. The student will
find out that the rise and fall time of the IC driving the
waveform is important.
Fig. 7. Equivalent Circuit with SPICE simulation parameters.
Proper selection of tr and tf and K (usually between 0.8
and 1.0) will create simulation that shows a resulting
reduction in coupling (of 1.9dB) in agreement with
measurement results. It compares favorably with the
measurements.
VI. ADDITIONAL EXPERIMENTS
Further to this, a second experimental board with
dominant capacitive coupling is developed and illustrates
the same coupling principles with capacitive coupling as
the starting point. Similarly, the displacement currents
are strong enough to light up an LED!
VII. CONCLUSION
The experiment described in this paper demonstrates
the effects from a combination of inductive and
capacitive coupling with measurement that are supported
by simulation in the light of some PCB design rules. The
experiment on near-field coupling are part of the course
work in developing EMC skills in PCB layout for
medical instrumentation. On the surface, EMC seems
like some kind of “Black Magic” however the actual
situation can be simple enough to be analyzed by
students. In some of the steps, one type of coupling is
predominant but in others there is a combination of two
types of coupling. It prompt the student to use analysis
to estimate the various parameters that affect coupling
and can use the skills acquired to analyze the dominant
mode in every EMC situation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance and
support of all those who contributed towards the making
of the experiments a reality, in particular the technical
support officers at the BME Center at Ngee Ann
Polytechnic.
REFERENCES
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PCB Design for EMC, MSc Thesis, Dept of Electronics,
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Dawson, http://www.geocities.com/timfoo6143/Design_Rules.pdf
[2] M P Robinson and T M Benson and C Christopoulos and J F
Dawson and M D Ganley and A C Marvin and S J Porter and D W
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from Circuit Boards, 10th International Conference on
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455, pages 94—99, 1-3 Sept 1997.
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