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Explorer II
June 12, 2025
Solved

Overshoot spikes on SD card interface with STMH743BIT

  • June 12, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 293 views

I'm getting bad overshoot and undershoot spikes on an SD card interface. The spikes are so bad that 1/300 large (2MB) file writes fails, and it's damaging the SD cards so that a card that has been subjected to these spikes will continue to fail after it is moved to a good board. 
I can knock down the spikes by adding a 33-51 ohm series resistors to the data, clk and cmd lines. With 51 ohms I have done over 50,000 large file writes without errors as long as I use a virgin SD card that hasn't been subjected to the spikes.
The boards have traces equalized for length, and one version uses 8 mil wide traces, the other uses 12 mils. Both have overshoots. One of my boards has long 4.5" traces to the card. But I'm also seeing spikes on a shorter version with only 3.2" traces to the card. There are lots of example SDIO schematics online but only 1/10 show series resistors. Application note AN5200 on SDMMC does not mention resistors.
When I watch the data lines on a scope, an initial burst of traffic has perfectly rounded corners with no overshoots, but after the init phase then the overshoots start. I'm assuming the driver increases the rise/fall times to allow higher frequencies, and that these faster transitions cause the overshoots. Is there a way to force the driver to stick with slower transitions?
The clk line has the overshoots throughout the init and file write functions. 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Best answer by Tesla DeLorean

    You can dual back the slew-rate via the SPEEDR settings. These can be set to much less aggressive edges to short / low-load.

    The H7 also has a compensation cell.

    I can't say I've seen cards get electrically damage, but corrupting the file system structures can make the cards unusable until properly reformatted.

     

    1 reply

    Graduate II
    June 12, 2025

    You can dual back the slew-rate via the SPEEDR settings. These can be set to much less aggressive edges to short / low-load.

    The H7 also has a compensation cell.

    I can't say I've seen cards get electrically damage, but corrupting the file system structures can make the cards unusable until properly reformatted.