Hi,
I cannot find in the datasheet if the Kelvin GND of the uC can/shall be connected to the ground of the UC.
Do you have also a layout guideline for the crystal for best inmunity? Should we have a local ground for this kelvin connection?
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Hi,
I cannot find in the datasheet if the Kelvin GND of the uC can/shall be connected to the ground of the UC.
Do you have also a layout guideline for the crystal for best inmunity? Should we have a local ground for this kelvin connection?
Hi Ivan,
The external crystal load capacitors should be tied back to Kelvin_GND. Kelvin_GND is not intended to be shorted to other GND lines externally.
Please find the description in device datasheet:
Please see the board design considerations in this linke:
Ok. The first point is clear now.
Second point still unclear. I do not find a layout recommendation for the crystal.
If we have a PCB with 4 Layers for example, and the crystal is on top, should the 2ND Layer be ground or a Kelvin GND island?
You don't have to add a Kelvin island to the 2nd layer, or the 2nd layer doesn't have to be GND layer. Please place the crystal close to MCU, and keep the clock traces as short as you can.
If you can route all the signals on the top layer and bottom layer, it's good to have GND plane and power plane in between. The standard 4 layer PCB stackup is:
Top: Signals
Inner 1: GND
Inner 2: Power
Bottom: Signals
The GND and Power can be switched depending on the layer with more signals.