High-Frequency Crosstalk on a Multilayer Printed Circuit Board

In multilayer printed circuit board (PCB), a ground plane (GP) acts as return for the current through the tracks. The high-frequency (HF) coupling or crosstalk on a triple layer printed circuit board (PCB) was studied; the crosstalk was expressed in terms of a transfer impedance Zt between different circuits on the PCB. The continuous GP of our triple layer PCB was the middle layer; test tracks were placed at various positions and were of different complexity. Rapid HF calculations were carried out, based on transmission-line models. This avoids the use of time consuming three-dimensional calculations; the theory was checked by extensive measurements.