Calculate the parasitic capacitance in Altium

altiumcapacitancemicrocontrollerpcb

As you know for calculate the capacitor of crystal(for MCU) you should use of this equation:

CX = 2*(CL – Cstray)

We can find the Cl in crystal's datasheet but, for Cstray, we should calculate:

The capacitance of the microcontroller pins (data sheet) + The parasitic capacitance of the traces on your board (can be approximated knowing length, width and layer of the traces).

I use AVR and I couldn't find the capacitance of the microcontroller pins(if you know, please tell me) but, my problem is that I don't know how can I calculate the parasitic capacitance of the traces. can I calculate it by altium? if so, how? if no, please provide a program untill i use it for solve my problem.

Best Answer

can i calculate it by altium? if yes, how?

I can't answer that.

if no, please provide a program untill i use it for solve my problem.

I assume your PCB trace is micro strip. You can use this calculator for example.

Fill in the required parameters:

  • W[m] width of the trace
  • H[m] height of dielectric above return plane
  • T[m] trace thickness
  • Er[ ] relative permittivity of the dielectric

H is the distance between the trace and the GND plane below it. It depends on you PCB layer stack up.

Er depends on the dielectric of the PCB. Its About 4.3 for FR4. Look at the technical specifications from your PCB manufacturer.

As a result you get

  • [F/m] capacitance per unit length

which is what you want. Be careful to convert all the values to SI-Units as required by the calculator from the example.