Ground bounce
Encyclopedia
In electronic engineering
, ground bounce is a phenomenon associated with transistor
switching where the gate voltage can appear to be less than the local ground potential, causing the unstable operation of a logic gate
.
) to ground. In this phenomenon, when the gate is turned on, enough current flows through the emitter
-collector circuit that the silicon in the immediate vicinity of the emitter is pulled high, sometimes by several volts, thus raising the local ground, as perceived by the transistor, to a value significantly above true ground. Relative to this local ground, the BASE voltage can go negative, thus shutting off the transistor. As the excess local charge dissipates, the transistor turns back on, possibly causing a repeat of the phenomenon, sometimes up to a half-dozen bounces.
Ground bounce is one of the leading causes of "hung" or metastable gates in modern digital circuit design. This happens because the ground bounce puts the input of a flip flop effectively at voltage level that is neither a one or a zero at clock time, or causes untoward effects in the clock itself. A similar phenomenon may be seen on the collector side, called VCC sag, where VCC
is pulled unnaturally low.
Electronic engineering
Electronics engineering, also referred to as electronic engineering, is an engineering discipline where non-linear and active electrical components such as electron tubes, and semiconductor devices, especially transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, are utilized to design electronic...
, ground bounce is a phenomenon associated with transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
switching where the gate voltage can appear to be less than the local ground potential, causing the unstable operation of a logic gate
Logic gate
A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that is, it performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, one that has for instance zero rise time and...
.
Description
Ground bounce is usually seen on high density VLSI where insufficient precautions have been taken to supply a logic gate with a sufficiently low resistance connection (or sufficiently high capacitanceCapacitance
In electromagnetism and electronics, capacitance is the ability of a capacitor to store energy in an electric field. Capacitance is also a measure of the amount of electric potential energy stored for a given electric potential. A common form of energy storage device is a parallel-plate capacitor...
) to ground. In this phenomenon, when the gate is turned on, enough current flows through the emitter
Emitter
-In general:*A device used to exude any signal, beacon, light, odor, liquid, fragrance, ionizing particles or any other type of signal.-In horticulture:*A device used in drip irrigation.-In electronics and instrument physics:...
-collector circuit that the silicon in the immediate vicinity of the emitter is pulled high, sometimes by several volts, thus raising the local ground, as perceived by the transistor, to a value significantly above true ground. Relative to this local ground, the BASE voltage can go negative, thus shutting off the transistor. As the excess local charge dissipates, the transistor turns back on, possibly causing a repeat of the phenomenon, sometimes up to a half-dozen bounces.
Ground bounce is one of the leading causes of "hung" or metastable gates in modern digital circuit design. This happens because the ground bounce puts the input of a flip flop effectively at voltage level that is neither a one or a zero at clock time, or causes untoward effects in the clock itself. A similar phenomenon may be seen on the collector side, called VCC sag, where VCC
VCC
VCC may refer to:as a three-letter acronym:* Common-collector voltage , plus collector supply line voltage in a common NPN circuit.* Vale of Catmose College, an arts college in England.* Valencia Community College, in Orlando, Florida...
is pulled unnaturally low.