Signal Integrity

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Copper loss is one ingredient in interconnect loss. Surface texture or roughness has long been recognized as adding an excess loss over smooth copper. With the SI-VSP (very smooth profile) copper foils recently introduced by Mitsui Mining&Smelting Co. Ltd. (Mitsui Kinzoku), we may have reached the limits.

Eagerly anticipated, the next generation of DRAM technologies (DDR5/LPDDR5) are presently being validated in the lab by leading silicon vendors worldwide. This latest generation has a big surprise in store for hardware engineers and SI specialists that need to simulate such systems. DDR5 will introduce decision feedback equalization (DFE) for the DRAM receiver for the very first time.

Here’s a roundup of some of the things taking place at DesignCon 2020.

Return current for a signal always finds a way to flow as close to the signal as possible, thus minimizing the magnetic energy stored in the loop defined by the signal and its return path. So, the return current path is the combination of conduction paths that together minimize the stored magnetic energy. Some elements of the return current path may be part of the design and other elements may be unintentional.

Here’s what you need to do to enter to win copies of 9 books to round out your SI/PI library—one is out of print and one is hot off the press.

Measured S-parameters and cross-sections of PCB interconnects are used in this paper to identify the parameters of electrical models suitable for statistical analysis of interconnects with manufacturing variations. The constructed models reproduce observed effects of geometry and material properties variations on the loss, delay, and impedance, and they are suitable for yield analysis of interconnects with up to 56 Gbps signals.

Over the years, I have presented to and worked with thousands of engineers, from very young to very old. Many of the problems they bring to me have a small set of common answers. I’ve collected these into 20 basic rules of engineering.

Bert Simonovich reminisces about the problems and innovations that led to the invention of the point to multipoint non-contact interconnect bus.

This article lays out the basics of signal integrity problems, explains s-parameters, and identifies challenges in high-speed design.