Signal Integrity Introduction

Class 1
Reduction To Practice
for High Speed Digital Design
Reading assignment: CH8 to 9.3

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What is Signal Integrity (SI)?

An Engineering Practice
That ensures all signals transmitted
are received correctly
That ensures signals dont interfere
with one another in a way to degrade
reception.
That ensures signal dont damage any
device
That ensures signal dont pollute the
electromagnetic spectrum
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Whats this all about?

$
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The Business
Determine design parameters for
successful signaling
Design parameters are ranges for
design variables within which a
product can be reliably built
One in row is not good enough
New Terms
General Solution
Point Solution
Specific Solution
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Levels of SI Spheres of Influence

One
One Box
Box
End
End User
User

Boxed
Boxed Product
Product
Providers
Providers

Silicon
Silicon Providers
Providers
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SI Paradigms
Specific Solution
Applies to a given instance of a product or
specimen
Point Solution
Applies to any single given product
Encompasses a locus of specific solutions.
Example: Any board that comes off a production
line
General Solution
Applies to many products of a given type
Encompasses a locus of point solutions
The locus of all solutions for a specific standard
(like SCSI) is an example.
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Effective SI is Pre-Product Release.

It costs less here.

Why?
Time = $
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Signal Integrity Paced by Silicon Advances

Moores Law
Still true
Silicon density
doubles every
18 months

Core frequency increase roughly

follows density
Data transfer rate of connected I/O
Used to lag by about generation
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What About Design Functionality?

Normally not the domain of SI
Often qualifies legal operation
For most computers I/O signals are v(t)

Transmitter Receiver
Interconnect

Core: IC logic
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Components of High Speed Design

Transmitter Receiver
Interconnect

Transistors Circuit elements Transistors

Sources Transmission lines Passives
Algorithms S parameter blocks Algorithms
Passives (advanced topic) Memory
Memory
Competitive performance goals challenge each
generation of technology (higher frequencies)
SI encompasses a conglomerate of electrical
engineering disciplines
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SI Work
Modeling
Simulation
Measurement
Validation
What is good enough?
Sufficient to operate at desired
frequency with required fidelity
Risk Assessment
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SI in Computers The 60s and 70s

7400 Class TTL
Several MHz operation and 5ns edges
Transistor -Transistor Logic
Logic design with jelly bean ICs
Using loading rules from spec books
Lots of combinational and asynchronous
one-shot designs.
Bipolar and CMOS

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The 60s and 70s - Continued

ECL
Emitter Coupled Logic
Tens of MHz and 2-3ns edge rates
MECL hand book One of the first books on SI
Introduced concept of termination and transmission
lines
Still used spec books for rules
A few engineers evaluated termination schemes
but no SI engineering per se
Common SI problems were deglitching
switches and specifying clamping diodes on
relay drivers.
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The 80s
Hi Speed CMOS and open drain
buses
100+ MHz operation and 1ns edges
Clocking issues start to creep in
here
Ringing becomes a problem
Timing simulators emerge for SI
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The 90s
Early in the decade extracted board simulators are
popular.
Chip I/V and edge V(t) info simulated with transmission lines
whose characteristics are extracted directly from PWB layout
information
IBIS becomes popular
Edge rates move toward 300ps at launch.
Memory and I/O buses require early SI analysis
SSTL series stub terminated
AGTL Advanced Gunning Transistor Logic
Open collector busing
Differential signaling emerges
Late in the decade we start to hear terms like return
path, I/O power delivery, ISI, and source-synch
Extracted board Introduction account for these
simulators dont
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The 00s
GHz operation and 50ps launch edges
SI Engineers using spice and modeling
with Maxwell 2D/3-D field solvers.
Emerging technologies
High Speed Serial Differential
De/Pre emphasis
Embedded clocking
Data encoding
Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM)
Simultaneous Bi-Directional (SBD)
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Assignment
Assignment: How much electrical transmission length
does a 5ns, 2.5ns, 1ns, 300ps, 50ps edge occupy?
Assume propagation velocity is half that free of
space.
Determine a rationale for specifying physical wiring
length in computer printed wiring boards. This is an
exercise in engineering judgment.
Plot the ratio of electrical edge length to board
trace length (by decade) in previous slide. Use range
plots.

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SI Directions Today
SI is starting to borrow from the
communications industry
We are starting to hear terms like
Vector Network Analyzer (VNA)
S-parameters
Return and insertion loss
Eye diagram

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SI Roles
Convert product parts and design features
into models and parameters
Use models to simulate performance
Perform measurements to validate product
Determine how parameters limit performance
Use cost and simulated or measured
performance to determine rules for design
Use margin budgets to manage designs

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SI Deliverables

Assignment: Fill in the above 6 boxes

with hypothetical examples based on
your present knowledge of the
computer engineering field.
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Future of SI
Rules of thumb get old quick
Old assumptions not good enough
fascinating topics
Can we still use transmission line models?
What is the role of ground?
Higher and higher frequency
Underscores the need to understand 2nd and 3rd
order effects.
List examples
Many EE disciplines play together
Plethora of new signal analysis and measurement
methods
Need to simplify designs to efficiently turn a
profit.
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