Signal Integrity Exploration
Written on June 1st , 2021 by Lorin Achey
Software Tools Used
- Altium Designer
- Keysight’s Advanced Design System
Topics Covered
- Reflections and terminations
- Using stack up design and material properties to estimate characteristic impedance
- Cross talk in uniform transmission lines
- Differential pairs and differential impedance
- S-parameters: return loss, insertion loss, common patterns in s-parameters
- Modeling discontinuities: capacitive, inductive, transmission lines, stubs, vias, etc.
- Design for high speed serial links
Check out the images below for a sample of some of the signal integrity characterization work I performed during the summer of 2021.
An ADS simulation (2-layer, 4-layer) simulating a Time Domain Reflectometer.
A PCB designed to get as close as possible to target impedances using trace widths estimated from 2D field solvers.
A PCB designed for comparing the differential impedance and cross talk of a loosely coupled differential pair and a tightly coupled differential pair.
A PCB designed for comparing impedance discontinuities based on corner shape.
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