A circuit board capacitor structure operable as a high voltage isolation barrier
in communication circuitry. Capacitor electrodes form a capacitive structure directly
on a printed circuit board's opposing sides. The PCB substrate intermediate the
electrodes functions as the capacitive structure's dielectric material. The capacitor
electrodes are sized such that the electrodes' area and the substrate's dielectric
properties create the desired capacitance. Alternatively, a multi-layered PCB may
be utilized where layer(s) is/are used to form the capacitive structure. The circuit
board capacitor may couple communication circuitry located on the PCB's various
sides. The circuit board capacitor operates as a high voltage isolation barrier
in data access arrangements, separating line and system side circuitry. Further,
the high voltage isolation barrier may include multiple circuit board capacitors
to realize differential communications and/or multiple datapaths. The capacitor
structure can be flexibly arranged to minimize PCB real estate and be more cost-effective
than discrete capacitors.