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You would think that interconnect design for rf applications and high-speed digital applications would be very similar. After all, the upper frequency range of the applications are similar. Here area few examples of how rf engineering is different from high speed digital engineering.

If you missed the chance to attend the first EDI CON (Electronic Design Innovation Conference) in Boston last Aug, you missed the first conference to bring together industry participants across the spectrum of rf, microwave, wireless and high speed digital applications of signal integrity, power integrity and EMI. Rarely are these divergent, yet related fields addressed under one roof.

At the recent 2016 IEEE EMC Symposium in Ottawa, I had the opportunity to talk with two of the worlds’ experts on high frequency electrical characterization of interconnects and gained new insight on best practices for connector modeling and measuring.

Which is better, tight coupled or loosely coupled differential pairs? How many decoupling capacitors should I use per power pin? Is 1 MHz enough bandwidth in my SSCG or do I need 3 MHz? Should I pay extra for ultra-thin dielectric in the power and ground planes? Will my channel still work if the channel impedance is 110 Ohms and not 100 Ohms?