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[OMAP-L138] To be robust to ESD strike

Other Parts Discussed in Thread: OMAPL138, STRIKE

Hi,

One of my customer has a trouble with ESD issue in OMAPL138 system.
To be robust to ESD strike in OMAPL138 system, it is recommended to use an external 3.3V clock source with a resistor voltage divider, but actually they are using an internal oscillator.

Now some possible workarounds can be found in the eratta as below:

======================

• The OSCIN and OSCVSS (and OSCOUT, if used) should be routed as short as possible to reduce
their ability to pick up EMI noise.
• Route the OSCIN signal on inner board layers where it is shield by power and ground planes.
• Disable the DLL REFCLK signal in the DDR EMIF PHY. This prevents the DLL used by the DDR PHY
from dynamically tracking glitches on the input clock. This can be done after normal DDR initialization
by setting the following bit in the DDR PHY Control Register (0xB00000E4):
// Configure DDR PLL
Set_DDRPLL_150MHz();
// Configure DDR timings
DEVICE_DDR2Config(150);
// Minimum 600 MCLK cycle delay (allow master DLL to lock)
Delay_600();
// Perform dummy DDR read
volatile unsigned int k=0;
...
k = *(volatile unsigned int*) (0xC0000000);
// Disable DLL REFCLK
DRPYC1R |= 0x00002000;
• The processor should be provided as much power supply decoupling as is practical and placed as
close to the processor as possible.
• Follow the entire DDR interface implementation requirements in the device datasheet.
• Implement the PLL filtering circuits shown in the device datasheet.

===============================

It looks a possible workaround (DDR initialization described in the above) can be applied without HW changes. 
Do you have any other ideas for workaround without HW changes ?
Also, it is appreciated if you could suggest some experiences to be robust ESD strike with *minimal* HW (PCB) changes. 

Best Regards,
Kawada

  • Kawada-san

    From the "root cause" of the sensitivity and all previous customer experience, it is a "must" to change the hardware design from using a crystal to an external clock source or oscillator with faster rise time, as specified in the usage note. 

    Other suggested workarounds will "improve" robustness, but usually cannot be in lieu of the primary recommendation to use an external oscillator /clock source with sharper rise time.

    Regards

    Mukul 

  • Hello Mukul,

    Thanks for your quick reply. Hmm....Ok, first of all, we will discuss the primal workaround with our customer.

    Best Regards,
    Kawada

  • Hi Mukul,

    Let me confirm more about this issue.
    My customer just tried to connect VSSOSC to ground and confirmed the issue has been disappeared.

    The almost same issue is found in AM335x errata:

    =========================
    Advisory 1.0.30 OSC0 and OSC1: Noise Immunity Improved When Crystal Circuit is Connected
    Directly to PCB Digital Ground

    Workarounds Connect the VSS_OSC and VSS_RTC terminals and respective crystal circuit
    component grounds directly to the nearest PCB digital ground, making it more difficult for
    noise to couple into the crystal circuit.
    =========================

    So, I'm now wondering if connecting VSSOSC to ground could be a workaround
    if these devices are sharing the internal crystal circuit in design. 
    Could you please let me know your comments on this ?

    As you know, we would like to close this issue without big HW chagne... So it would be great if this can be a workaround on OMAPL platform also.

    Best Regards,
    Kawada

  • Kawada-san

    I remember this coming up on a previous customer engagement and following was the summary of our response

    The chip designers have recommended connecting the load capacitors for the crystal to the OSCVSS pin rather than the board VSS plane. During normal operation, the current in the OSCVSS wires is less than on chip VSS, which will result in less ground bounce and less noise for the oscillator. When the crystal load capacitors are connected to the board ground, the ground bounce noise is directly coupled into the oscillator input.

     On the other hand, when the oscillator load capacitors are only connected to the Kelvin ground, the impedance of the crystal circuit relative to the board ground is higher because it is connected to the board ground through the Kelvin ground and package ground pins.  Therefore, it may be easier to couple external noise sources onto the crystal components and circuit traces since it is not directly connected to the board ground.  While this has not caused issues on past designs, the 1.2V oscillator is unique to the OMAPL1x/AM18x family of devices, so it is possible that the system-ESD performance is better when connected to the board ground.

    -----

    We could not come of a conclusive understanding on the above and agreed not to add this to the usage note. 
    We also so in a specific testing scenario, that VSSOSC to ground improved the system ESD performance of an end application board (customer board) from 6KV to 9KV, but their product requirement was 12KV , where in this VSSOSC ground solutions didn't help to make it robust all the way upto 12KV. 

    So if the customer wants to just use VSSOSC to ground workaround , and is happy with the improvements and can proof to themselves that this solution is robust across all of their envisioned testing, they can go with it. 

    TI will not add this recommendation to the device usage note and cannot guarantee that it will across all scenarios. We still recommend evaluating the use of external oscillator as mentioned in the usage note. 

    Hope this helps.

    Regards

    Mukul 

  • Hi Mukul,

    Thanks for your comments. Maybe this is good information to judge whether they can apply their workaround or not.
    We will suggest the same to them.

    Thanks again for all your helps!

    Best Regards,
    Kawada