HIGH-SPEED

SIGNAL
PROPAGATION

ADVANCED BLACK MAGIC

Howard Johnson
Martin Graham

`\\\
PRENTICE
PRENTICE HALL PTR
HALL UPPER SADDLE RIVER, NJ 07458
PTR WWW.PHPTR.COM


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface xxi
Glossary of Symbols xxvii
1 Fundamentals 1
1.1 Impedance of Linear, Time-Invariant, Lumped-Element Circuits 1
1.2 Power Ratios 2
1.3 Rufes of Scaling 5
1.3.1 Scaling of Physical Size 6
1.3.1.1 Scaling Inductors 8
1.3.1.2 Scaling Transmission-Line Dimensions 8
1.3.2 Power Scaling 9
1.3.3 Time Scaling 10
1.3.4 Impedance Scaling with Constant Voltage 12
1.3.5 Dielectric-Constant Scaling 14
1.3.5.1 Partially Embedded Transmission Lines 15
1.3.6 Magnetic Permeability Scaling 15
1.4 The Concept of Resonance 16
1.5 Extra for Experts: Maximal Linear System Response to a Digital Input 22
2 Transmission Line Parameters 29
2.1 Telegrapher's Equations 31
2.1.1 So Good II Works an Barbed Wire 34
2.1.2 The No-Storage Principle and Its Implications for
Returning Signal Current 35
2.2 Derivation of Telegrapher's Equations 38
2.2.1 Definition of Characteristic Impedance ZC 39
2.2.2 Changes in Characteristic Impedance 40
2.2.3 Calculation of Impedance Zc From Parameters R, L, G, And C 41
2.2.4 Defmition of Propagation Coefficient y 44
2.2.5 Calculation of Propagation Coefficient y from Parameters R, L, G, and C 46
2.3 Ideal Transmission Line 48
2.4 DC Resistance 55
2.5 DC Conductance 57

ix


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2.6 Skin Effect 58

2.6.1 What Causes the Skin Effect, and What Does It Have to Do With Skin? 58
2.6.2 Eddy Currents within a Conductor 61
2.6.3 High and Low-Frequency Approximations for Series Resistance 63
2.7 Skin-Effect Inductance 66
2.8 Modeling Intemal Impedance 67
2.8.1 Practical Modeling of Intemal Impedance 70
2.8.2 Special Issues Concerning Rectangular Conductors 73
2.9 Concentric-Ring Skin-Effect Model 75
2.9.1 Modeling Skin Effect 76
2.9.2 Regarding Modeling Skin Effect 79
2.10 Proximity Effect 79
2.10.1 Proximity Factor 81
2.10.2 Proximity Effect for Coaxial Cables 84
2.10.3 Proximity Effect for Microstrip and Stripline Circuits 85
2.10.4 Last Words an Proximity Effect 85
2.10.4.1 Proximity Effect II 85
2.10.4.2 2-D Quasistatic Field Solvers 87
2.11 Surface Roughness 90
2.11.1 Severity of Surface Roughness 90
2.11.2 Onset of Roughness Effect 91
2.11.3 Roughness of Pcb Materials 91
2.11.4 Controlling Roughness 92
2.12 Dielectric Effects 94
2.12.1 Dielectric Loss Tangent 98
2.12.2 Rule of Mixtures 99
2.12.3 Calculating the Loss Tangent for a Uniform Dielectric Mixture 101
2.12.4 Calculating the Loss Tangent When You Don't Know q 103
2.12.5 Causality and the Network Function Relations 105
2.12.6 Finding lerl to Match a Measured Loss Tangent 110
2.12.7 Kramers-Kronig Relations 114
2.12.8 Complex Magnetic Permeability 115
2.13 Impedance in Series with the Return Path 115
2.14 Slow-Wave Mode On-Chip 117
3 Performance Regions 121
3.1 Signal Propagation Model 121
3.1.1 Extracting Parameters for RLGC Simulators 127
3.2 Hierarchy of Regions 128
3.2.1 A Transmission Line 1s Always a Transmission Line 130
3.3 Necessary Mathematics: Input Impedance and Transfer Function 132
3.4 Lumped-Element Region 135
3.4.1 Boundary of Lumped-Element Region 136
3.4.2 Pi Model 137
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3.4.3 Taylor-Series Approximation of H (Lumped-Element Region) 139

3.4.4 Input impedance (Lumped-Element Region) 140
3.4.5 Transfer Function (Lumped-Element Region) 143
3.4.6 Step Response (Lumped-Element Region) 145
3.5 RC Region 148
3.5.1 Boundary of RC Region 149
3.5.2 Input Impedance (RC Region) 151
3.5.3 Characteristic Impedance (RC Region) 152
3.5.4 General Behavior within RC Region 153
3.5.5 Propagation Coefficient (RC Region) 155
3.5.6 Transfer Function (RC Region) 155
3.5.6.1 Propagation Function of RC Line with Open-Circuited Load 155
3.5.6.2 Propagation Function of RC Line with Matched End Termination 156
3.5.6.3 Propagation Function of RC Line with Matched Source Termination 156
3.5.6.4 Propagation Function of RC Line with Resistive End Termination 157
3.5.7 Normalized Step Response (RC Region) 157
3.5.8 Tradeoffs Between Distance and Speed (RC Region) 159
3.5.9 Closed-Form Solution for Step Response (RC Region) 159
3.5.10 Elmore Delay Estimation (RC Region) 160
3.6 LC Region (Constant-Loss Region) 166
3.6.1 Boundary of LC Region 166
3.6.2 Characteristic Impedance (LC Region) 167
3.6.3 Influence of Series Resistance on TDR Measurements 169
3.6.4 Propagation Coefficient (LC Region) 173
3.6.5 Possibility of Severe Resonance within the LC Region 176
3.6.5.1 Alternate Interpretation of Equation [3.17] 178
3.6.5.2 Practical Effect of Resonance 179
3.6.6 Terminating an LC Transmission Line 179
3.6.6.1 End Termination 180
3.6.6.2 Source Termination 181
3.6.6.3 Both-Ends Termination 181
3.6.6.4 Subtle Differences Between Termination Styles 181
3.6.6.5 Application of Termination Equations to Other Regions 183
3.6.7 Tradeoffs Between Distance And Speed (LC Region) 183
3.6.8 Mixed-Mode Operation (LC and RC Regions) 184
3.7 Skin-Effect Region 185
3.7.1 Boundary of Skin-Effect Region 185
3.7.2 Characteristic Impedance (Skin-Effect Region) 186
3.7.3 Influence of Skin-Effect on TDR Measurement 188
3.7.4 Propagation Coefficient (Skin-Effect Region) 189
3.7.5 Possibility of Severe Resonance within Skin-Effect Region 193
3.7.5.1 Subtle Differences Between Termination Styles 194
3.7.5.2 Application of Termination Equations to Other Regions 194
3.7.6 Step Response (Skin-Effect Region) 195


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3.7.7 Tradeoffs Between Distance and Speed (Skin-Effect Region) 199

3.8 Dielectric Loss Region 200
3.8.1 Boundary of Dielectric-Loss-Limited Region 200
3.8.2 Characteristic Impedance (Dielectric-Loss-Limited Region) 202
3.8.3 Influence of Dielectric Loss an TDR Measurement 205
3.8.4 Propagation Coefficient (Dielectric-Loss-Limited Region) 206
3.8.5 Possibility of Severe Resonance within Dielectric-Loss Limited Region 210
3.8.5.1 Subtle Differences Between Termination Styles 211
3.8.5.2 Application of Termination Equations to Other Regions 211
3.8.6 Step Response (Dielectric-Loss-Limited Region) 212
3.8.7 Tradeoffs Between Distance and Speed (Dielectric-Loss Region) 216
3.9 Waveguide Dispersion Region 216
3.9.1 Boundary of Waveguide-Dispersion Region 217
3.10 Summary of Breakpoints Between Regions 218
3.11 Equivalence Principle for Transmission Media 221
3.12 Scaling Copper Transmission Media 224
3.13 Scaling Multimode Fiber-Optic Cables 229
3.14 Linear Equalization: Long Backplane Trace Example 230
3.15 Adaptive Equalization: Accelerant Networks Transceiver 234
4 Frequency-Domain Modeling 237
4.1 Going Nonlinear 237
4.2 Approximations to the Fourier Transform 239
4.3 Discrete Time Mapping 241
4.4 Other Limitations of the FFT 243
4.5 Normalizing the Output of an FFT Routine 243
4.5.1 Deriving the DFT Normalization Factors 244
4.6 Useful Fourier Transform-Pairs 245
4.7 Effect of Inadequate Sampling Rate 247
4.8 Implementation of Frequency-Domain Simulation 249
4.9 Embellishments 251
4.9.1 What if a Large Bulk-Transport Delay Causes the Waveform to
Slide Off the end of the Time-Domain Window? 251
4.9.2 How Do I Transform an Arbitrary Data Sequence? 251
4.9.3 How Do I Shift the Time-Domain Waveforms? 252
4.9.4 What If I Want to Model a More Complicated System? 252
4.9.5 What About Differential Modeling? 252
4.10 Checking the Output of Your FFT Routine 253
5 Pcb (printed-circuit board) Traces 255
5.1 Pcb Signal Propagation 257
5.1.1 Characteristic Impedance and Delay 257
5.1.2 Resistive Effects 258
5.1.2.1 DC Resistance of Pcb Trace 258


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5.1.2.2 AC Resistance of Pcb Trace 258

5.1.2.3 Calculation of Perimeter of Pcb Trace 261
5.1.2.4 Very Low Impedance Pcb Trace 262
5.1.2.5 Calculation of Skin-Effect Loss Coefficient for Pcb trace 262
5.1.2.6 Popsicle-Stick Analysis 262
5.1.2.7 Nickel-Plated Traces 266
5.1.3 Dielectric Effects 268
5.1.3.1 Estimating the Effective Dielectric Constant for a Microstrip 269
5.1.3.2 Propagation Velocity 270
5.1.3.3 Calculating the Effective Loss Tangent for a Microstrip 270
5.1.3.4 Dielectric Properties of Laminate Materials (core and prepreg) 271
5.1.3.5 Variations in Dielectric Properties with Temperature 275
5.1.3.6 Passivation and Soldermask 277
5.1.3.7 Dielectric Properties of Soldermask Materials 280
5.1.3.8 Calculation of Dielectric Loss Coefficient for Pcb Trace 280
5.1.4 Mixtures of Skin Effect and Dielectric Loss 281
5.1.5 Non-TEM Modes 282
5.1.5.1 Strange Microstrip Modes 282
5.1.5.2 Simulation of Non-TEM Behavior 286
5.2 Limits to Attainable Distance 288
5.2.1 SONET Data Coding 291
5.3 Pcb Noise and Interference 294
5.3.1 Pcb: Reflections 294
5.3.1.1 Both Ends Termination 295
5.3.1.2 Pcb: Lumped-Element Reflections 297
5.3.1.3 Potholes 300
5.3.1.4 Inductive Potholes 303
5.3.1.5 FVho's Afraid of the Big, Bad Bend? 304
5.3.1.6 Stubs and Vias 305
5.3.1.7 Parasitic Pads 306
5.3.1.8 How Close ls Close Enough? 309
5.3.1.9 Placement of End Termination 312
5.3.1.10 Making an Accurate Series Termination 314
5.3.1.11 Matching Pads 315
5.3.2 Pcb Crosstalk 318
5.3.2.1 Purpose of Solid Plane Layers 318
5.3.2.2 Variations with Trace Geometry 318
5.3.2.3 Directionality 319
5.3.2.4 NEXT: Near-End or Reverse Crosstalk 320
5.3.2.5 FEXT: Far-End or Forward Crosstalk 321
5.3.2.6 Special Considerations 322
5.3.2.7 Directionality of Crosstalk 323
5.4 Pcb Connectors 326
5.4.1 Mutual Understanding 326
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5.4.2 Through-Hole Clearances 328

5.4.3 Measuring Connectors 330
5.4.4 Tapered Transitions 332
5.4.5 Straddle-Mount Connectors 335
5.4.6 Cable Shield Grounding 336
5.5 Modeling Vias 338
5.5.1 Incremental Parameters of a Via 338
5.5.2 Three Models for a Via 341
5.5.3 Dangling Vias 343
5.5.4 Capacitance Data 345
5.5.4.1 Three-Layer Via Capacitance 345
5.5.4.2 Effect of Back-Drilling 346
5.5.4.3 Effect of Multiple Planes 347
5.5.5 Inductance Data 351
5.5.5.1 Through-Hole Via Inductance 351
5.5.5.2 Via Crosstalk 354
5.6 Tlw Future of On-Chip Interconnections 359
6 Differential Signaling 363
6.1 Single-Ended Circuits 363
6.2 Two-Wire Circuits 368
6.3 Differential Signaling 370
6.4 Differential and Common-Mode Voltages and Currents 374
6.5 Differential and Common-Mode velocity 376
6.6 Common-Mode Balance 377
6.7 Common-Mode Range 378
6.8 Differential to Common-Mode Conversion 378
6.9 Differential Impedance 380
6.9.1 Relation Between Odd-Mode and Uncoupled Impedance 383
6.9.2 Why the Odd-Mode Impedance Is Always Less Than the
Uncoupled Impedance 383
6.9.3 Differential Reflections 384
6.10 Pcb Configurations 385
6.10.1 Differential (Microstrip) Trace Impedance 386
6.10.2 Edge-Coupled Stripline 389
6.10.3 Breaking Up a Pair 397
6.10.4 Broadside-Coupled Stripline 399
6.11 Pcb Applications 404
6.11.1 Matching to an External, Balanced Differential Transmission Medium 404
6.11.2 Defeating ground bounce 405
6.11.3 Reducing EMI with Differential Signaling 405
6.11.4 Punching Through a Noisy Connector 407
6.11.4.1 Differential Signaling (Through Connectors) 408
6.11.5 Reducing Clock Skew 409
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6.11.6 Reducing Local Crosstalk 411

6.11.7 A Good Reference about Transmission Lines 413
6.11.8 Differential Clocks 413
6.11.9 Differential Termination 414
6.11.10 Differential U-Turn 417
6.11.11 Your Layout Is Skewed 419
6.11.12 Buying Time 420
6.12 Intercabinet Applications 422
6.12.1 Ribbon-Style Twisted-Pair Cables 423
6.12.2 Immunity to Large Ground Shifts 424
6.12.3 Rejection of External Radio-Frequency Interference (RFI) 426
6.12.4 Differential Receivers Have Superior Tolerance to Skin Effect and
Other High-Frequency Losses 427
6.13 LVDS Signaling 429
6.13.1 Output Levels 429
6.13.2 Common-Mode Output 430
6.13.3 Conunon-Mode Noise Tolerance 430
6.13.4 Differential-Mode Noise Tolerance 431
6.13.5 Hysteresis 431
6.13.6 Impedance Control 432
6.13.7 Trace Radiation 435
6.13.8 Risetime 435
6.13.9 Input Capacitance 435
6.13.10 Skew 435
6.13.11 Fail-Safe 436
7 Generic Building-Cabling Standards 439
7.1 Generic Cabling Architecture 442
7.2 SNR Budgeting 446
7.3 Glossary of Cabling Terms 446
7.4 Preferred Cable Combinations 449
7.5 FAQ: Building-Cabling Practices 449
7.6 Crossover Wiring 451
7.7 Plenum-Rated Cables 452
7.8 Laying cables in an Uncooled Attic Space 453
7.9 FAQ: Older Cable Types 453
8 100-Ohm Balanced Twisted-Pair Cabling 457
8.1 UTP Signal Propagation 459
8.1.1 UTP Modeling 460
8.1.2 Adapting the Metallic-Transmission Model 462
8.2 UTP Transmission Example: 10BASE-T 465
8.3 UTP Noise and Interference 471
8.3.1 UTP: Far-End Reflections 471

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8.3.2 UTP: Near-End Reflections 475

8.3.2.1 UTP: (Structural) Return Loss 477
8.3.2.2 Modeling Structural Return Loss 480
8.3.3 UTP: Hybrid Circuits 481
8.3.4 UTP: Near-End Crosstalk 487
8.3.5 UTP: Allen crosstalk 490
8.3.6 UTP: Far-End Crosstalk 490
8.3.7 Power sum NEXT and ELNEXT 493
8.3.8 UTP: Radio-Frequency Interference 493
8.3.9 UTP: Radiation 496
8.4 UTP Connectors 497
8.5 Issues with Screening 501
8.6 Category-3 UTP at Elevated Temperature 502
9 150-Ohm STP-A Cabling 505
9.1 150-Q STP-A Signal Propagation 506
9.2 150-Q STP-A Noise and Interference 506
9.3 150-Q STP-A: Skew 507
9.4 150-Q STP-A: Radiation and Safety 508
9.5 150-Q STP-A: Comparison with UTP 509
9.6 150-Q STP-A Connectors 509
10 Coaxial Cabling 513
10.1 Coaxial Signal Propagation 515
10.1.1 Stranded Center-Conductors 522
10.1.2 Why 50 Ohms? 523
10.1.3 50-Ohm Mailbag 526
10.2 Coaxial Cable Noise and Interference 528
10.2.1 Coax: Far-End Reflected Noise 528
10.2.2 Coax: Radio Frequency Interference 529
10.2.3 Coax: Radiation 529
10.2.4 Coaxial Cable: Safety Issues 530
10.3 Coaxial Cable Connectors 532
11 Fiber-Optic Cabling 537
11.1 Making Glass Fiber 538
11.2 Finished Core Specifications 539
11.3 Cabling the Fiber 541
11.4 Wavelengths of Operation 543
11.5 Multimode Glass Fiber-Optic Cabling 544
11.5.1 Multimode Signal Propagation 546
11.5.2 Why Is Graded-Index Fiber Better than Step-Index? 551
11.5.3 Standards for Multimode Fiber 552
11.5.4 What Considerations Govern the Use of 50-micron Fiber? 554
Table of Contents xvil

11.5.5 Multimode Optical Performance Budget 555

11.5.5.1 Multimode Dispersion Budget 555
11.5.5.2 Multimode Attenuation Budget 566
11.5.6 Jitter 568
11.5.7 Multimode Fiber-Optic Noise and Tnterference 570
11.5.8 Multimode Fiber Safety 571
11.5.9 Multimode Fiber with Laser Source 571
11.5.10 VC SEL Diodes 573
11.5.11 Multimode Fiber-Optic Connectors 575
11.6 Single-Mode Fiber-Optic Cabling 576
11.6.1 Single-Mode Signal Propagation 577
11.6.2 Single-Mode Fiber-Optic Noise and Interference 578
11.6.3 Single-Mode Fiber Safety 578
11.6.4 Single-Mode Fiber-Optic Connectors 578
12 Clock Distribution 579
12.1 Extra Fries, Please 582
12.2 Aritlunetic of Clock Skew 584
12.3 Clock Repeaters 589
12.3.1 Active Skew Correction 593
12.3.2 Zero-Delay Clock Repeaters 594
12.3.3 Compensating for Line Length 595
12.4 Stripline vs. Microstrip Delay 596
12.5 Importance of Tenninating Clock Lines 599
12.6 Effect of Clock Receiver Thresholds 601
12.7 Effect of Split Termination 602
12.8 Intentional Delay Adjustments 605
12.8.1 Fixed Delay 605
12.8.2 Adjustable Delays 607
12.8.3 Automatically Programmable Delays 609
12.8.4 Serpentine Delays 610
12.8.5 Switchback Coupling 612
12.9 Driving Multiple Loads with Source Termination 616
12.9.1 To Tee or Not To Tee 619
12.9.2 Driving Two Loads 625
12.10 Daisy-Chain Clock Distribution 627
12.10.1 Case Study of Daisy-Chained Clock 629
12.11 The Jitters 634
12.11.1 When Clock Jitter Matters 636
12.11.1.1 Clock Jitter Rarely Matters within the Boundaries of a
Synchronous State Machine 636
12.11.1.2 Clock Jitter Propagation 636
12.11.1.3 Variance of the Tracking Error 640
12.11.1.4 Clock Jitter in FIFO-Based Architectures 643


xviii Table of Contents

12.11.1.5 What Causes Jitter 644

12.11.1.6 Random and Deterministic Jitter 645
12.11.2 Measuring Clock Jitter 648

12.11.2.1 Jitter Measurement 651

12.11.2.2 Jitter and Phase Noise 654
12.12 Power Supply Filtering for Clock Sources, Repeaters, and PLL Circuits 656
12.12.1 Healthy Power 659
12.12.2 Clean Power 661
12.13 Intentional Clock Modulation 663
12.13.1 Signal Integrity Mailbag 665
12.13.2 Jitter-Free Clocks 667
12.14 Reduced-Voltage Signaling 668
12.15 Controlling Crosstalk an Clock Lines 669
12.16 Reducing Emission 670
13 Time-Domain Simulation Tools and Methods 673
13.1 Ringing in a New Era 673
13.2 Signal Integrity Simulation Process 674
13.2.1 How Much Modeling Do You Need? 676
13.2.2 What Happens After Parameter Extraction? 676
13.2.3 A Word of Caution 677
13.3 The Underlying Simulation Engine 678
13.3.1 Evolving Forward 680
13.3.2 Pitfalls of SPICE-Like Algorithms 680
13.3.3 Transmission Lines 682
13.3.4 Interpreting Your Results 684
13.3.5 Using SPICE Intelligently 685
13.4 IBIS (VO Buffer Information Specification) 685
13.4.1 What Is IBIS? 686
13.4.2 Who Created IBIS? 686
13.4.3 What Is Good About IBIS? 687
13.4.4 What' s Wrong with IBIS? 687
13.4.5 What You Can Do to Help 688
13.5 IBIS: History and Future Direction 689
13.5.1 IBIS Historical Overview 689
13.5.2 Comparison to SPICE 690
13.5.3 Future Directions 690
13.6 IBIS: Issues with Interpolation 691
13.7 IBIS: Issues with SSO Noise 695
13.8 Nature of EMC Work 697
13.8.1 EMC Simulation 698
13.9 Power and Ground Resonance 699
Collected References 703
Table of Contents xix

Points to Remember 710

Appendix A - Building a Signal Integre Department 731
Appendix B - Calculation of Loss Slope 733
Appendix C - Two-Port Analysis 735
Simple Cases Involving Transmission Lines 737
Fully Configured Transmission Line 739
Complicated Configurations 741
Appendix D - Accuracy of Pi Model 743
Pi-Model Operated in the LC Region 745
Appendix E - erf( ) 747
Index 749