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Is ground made of copper?
Edge rates means rise time of a signal some signals are slow rising like / others are fast |. The fast edges implies higher frequency components within the waveform. With high frequencies, groundplane becomes very important.
A high-frequency or fast rise-time pulse requires a ground plane in close proximity to carry the return signal. else the signal will radiate and the high frequency signal or signal edge becomes distorted. Even a small gap in the ground plane which causes the return signal to take a different path can cause significant problems with the signal. For very high frequencies, microstrip traces are used where the trace width, and distance to the ground plane are controlled to maintain a specific impedance and minimize signal reflections.But why is it specially indicated that a solid ground is needed for high-frequency currents?
What is the different consequenes of high and low frequency currents?
A high-frequency or fast rise-time pulse requires a ground plane in close proximity to carry the return signal. else the signal will radiate and the high frequency signal or signal edge becomes distorted. Even a small gap in the ground plane which causes the return signal to take a different path can cause significant problems with the signal. For very high frequencies, microstrip traces are used where the trace width, and distance to the ground plane are controlled to maintain a specific impedance and minimize signal reflections.
A low frequency return signal can take a longer or different path without serious radiation or distortion so a ground plane is not as essential. The frequency at which a ground plane is required is not exact. Generally to be safe, a ground plane is used for most circuit boards operating much above audio frequencies including most digital boards.
Radiation means the energy pops off the wire into free space and radiates outwards, IE your circuit becomes a radio. At high frequencies this is very easy to do, even over short distances if the PCB is designed poorly. It depends entirly on the frequencies you're working with.
LOLCurrent always travels in a loop. WIthout good decoupling and a ground plane, the current will travel in a larger loop (making a bigger antenna and radiating more noise).