Application of the cavity model to lossy power-return plane structures in printed circuit boards

Power-return plane pairs in printed circuit boards are often modeled as resonant cavities. Cavity models can be used to calculate transfer impedance parameters used to predict levels of power bus noise. Techniques for applying the cavity model to lossy printed circuit board geometries rely on a low-loss assumption in their derivations. Boards that have been designed to damp power bus resonances (e.g., boards with embedded capacitance) generally violate this low-loss assumption. This paper investigates the validity of the cavity model when applied to printed circuit board structures where the board resonances are significantly damped. Cavity modeling results for sample lossy power-return plane structures are validated using a three-dimensional full wave numerical code. A simple method is also established to check the validity of the cavity model for a power-return plane structure with imperfect conductors and lossy dielectric substrates.