Altera Device-Specific Power Delivery Network - Manual

Device-Specific Power Delivery Network (PDN) Tool
2.0 User Guide
2015.03.06
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This user guide provides a brief overview of the various tabs in the device-specific PDN tool 2.0. You can
quickly and accurately design a robust power delivery network with the PDN tool 2.0. This is done by
calculating an optimum number of capacitors that meet the target impedance requirements for a given
power supply.
Note: The PDN tool 2.0 only supports Microsoft Excel 2007 and newer, and either US or UK English
language.
Table 1: PDN Tool 2.0 Software Verification
Altera ® has tested and verified that the PDN tool 2.0 is compatible with these platforms and software versions.
Operating System Excel Versions
Windows 8 (32-bit) 2007, 2010, 2013
Windows 8 (64-bit) 2010, 2013
Windows 7 (32-bit) 2007, 2010, 2013
Windows 7 (64-bit) 2010, 2013
Windows XP 2007, 2010
Overview
The Altera PDN tool 2.0 helps PCB designers estimate the number, value, and type of decoupling
capacitors needed to develop an efficient PCB decoupling strategy. It allows you to do this during the
early design phase, without going through extensive pre-layout simulations.
The PDN tool 2.0 is a Microsoft Excel-based spreadsheet that calculates an impedance profile based on
your input. For a given power supply, the spreadsheet only requires basic design information to calculate
the impedance profile and the optimum number of capacitors to meet the desired impedance target
(Z
TARGET
). Basic design information includes the board stackup, transient current information, and ripple
specifications, for example. The tool also provides device- and power rail-specific PCB decoupling cut-off
frequency (F
EFFECTIVE
). The results obtained through the PDN tool 2.0 are intended only as a preliminary
estimate and not as a specification. For an accurate impedance profile, Altera recommends a post-layout
simulation approach using any available EDA tool, such as Sigrity PowerSI, Ansoft SIWave, Cadence
Allegro PCB PI, and so on.
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