Impact of analog/digital ground design on circuit functionality and radiated EMI

Split analog/digital ground plane has been recommended as standard PCB layout guideline to isolate the sensitive analog circuits from the noisy digital circuits. The guideline is developed from years of design experience and sound engineering judgment, with little or no rigorous analysis supporting it. Through an experimental study, this paper evaluates the given guideline without prejudging its validity. In the study, instead of looking only at the impact of analog/digital ground design on circuit functionality, the effect of radiate EMI from the PCB is also investigated