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, and connect 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 plane. The other side of the ground plane contains much less noise and must be used for sensitive traces.

TI recommends providing adequate device heat sinking by using vias near PGND and VIN pins to connect to the system ground plane or V_IN strap, both of which dissipate heat. Use as much copper as possible for the system ground plane on the top and bottom layers and avoid plane cuts and bottlenecks for the heat flow 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 low thermal resistance.