11.1.1 Ground and Thermal Considerations

As mentioned above, TI recommends using one of the middle layers as a solid ground plane. A ground plane provides shielding for sensitive circuits and traces. It also provides a quiet reference potential for the control circuitry. The AGND and PGND pins must be connected to the ground planes using vias next to the bypass capacitors. PGND pins are connected directly to the source of the low side MOSFET switch, and also connected directly to the grounds of the input and output capacitors. The PGND net contains noise at the switching frequency and can bounce due to load variations. The PGND trace, as well as the VIN and SW traces, must be constrained to one side of the ground planes. The other side of the ground plane contains much less noise and must be used for sensitive routes.

Use as much copper as possible, for system ground plane, on the top and bottom layers for the best heat dissipation. Use a four-layer board with the copper thickness for the four layers, starting from the top as: 2 oz / 1 oz / 1 oz / 2 oz. A four-layer board with enough copper thickness, and proper layout, provides low current conduction impedance, proper shielding, and lower thermal resistance.