Why Do High-Speed Signals Need a Continuous Ground Plane?

Many signal integrity problems are actually return path problems. High-frequency currents do not randomly travel back to the source. They follow the path with the lowest impedance, usually directly beneath the signal trace on the reference plane.

Interrupting the ground plane can force current to take longer paths, increasing loop area and creating more EMI.

A clean reference plane is one of the foundations of reliable high-speed design.

#PCBDesign #EMI #SignalIntegrity