Do all GND/Power pins on a uC have to be connected to each other?

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vputz
 
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Do all GND/Power pins on a uC have to be connected to each other?

Post by vputz »

Silly question for many, but it occurred to me that don't actually know.

I see this a lot on microcontrollers--several pins labeled "Ground", say (or others that are labeled "+5V" or "VCC", basically any case where you have multiple power pins with the same label).

What's not clear to me from the datasheets is this: are all those pins connected internally so that you must connect at least one to ground, or are they not connected internally at all so that you must connect each one to ground? My guess is the latter, but if I've been missing a chance to simplify my circuit designs, I wanted to know...

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: Do all GND/Power pins on a uC have to be connected to each other?

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

The answer depends on the chip. Any special connection considerations are typically called out in the data sheet.

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