Design Considerations for Partitioning and Layout of a Mixed-Signal PCB
In a perfect layout, we wouldn’t ever mix digital and analog signals. However, the majority of circuit boards require both sections of circuitry. The analog section prepares signals for digitizing, and the digital section converts those signals into digital forms to be acted on by the rest of the board’s circuitry. To accommodate this mixture means designing layouts to avoid the signal integrity problems that mixed-signal boards can create. Here are some considerations for partitioning and layout of a mixed-signal PCB that can help get the best performance out of both the analog and digital sections of the board.