On Fri, 24 Mar 2000 11:12:10 -0500 Chris Eddy writes: > Steven; > > I am going to go out on a limb and say that ground planes are > overrated. They > are good for three things; overcoming electrostatic field > interference, making > high density layouts possible, and compensating for an inability to > route a > decent ground net. > I don't use a ground plane as an electrostatic field shield, but more as a good low impedance ground. I agree that the major concern in analog circuitry is the shared trace where a high current ground return current is running through the same trace as a low level analog signal. I've done the trick of running two traces side by side, one carrying ground for power, the other to be my analog reference input. Replacing them with one trace results in an analog offset due to the voltage drop caused by the power supply current. In any case, ground planes have served me well. I generally am doing two sided boards and just do a copper fill on both sides, connecting anything named GND. Harold FCC Rules Online at http://hallikainen.com/FccRules Lighting control for theatre and television at http://www.dovesystems.com ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.