Signal Integrity

Browse our library of resources to learn more about pcb design and signal integrity.

xSignals in Altium Designer Signal Integrity Stimulus Design Rules Basics of Signal Integrity Analysis

Comparator Propagation Delay in High Speed Mixed-Signal Design

Comparator Propagation Delay in High Speed Mixed-Signal Design When I began my journey into the wonderful depths of electronics so long ago as a student, I wondered how so many interesting and important functions are built into everyday electronic devices. Input signal and voltages were fresh in my head and I was worrying more about a power supply than inverting inputs. It wasn’t until later that I started to fully understand the versatility of op-amps and how they could be used to build comparators Read Article

No Last Calls Here: PCI Express Routing and Layout

No Last Calls Here: PCI Express Routing and Layout The mere mention of the “Orient Express” conjures up images shrouded in mystery and intrigue. Spies often conducted their business during the 80-hour trip from Paris to Constantinople. Kings rode living and sleeping cars rivaled Europe’s finest hotels with wooden paneling, silk sheets, and deluxe leather armchairs. PCI Express does not have the same aura as the “Orient Express” but does allow the high bandwidth communication between devices Read Article

Crosstalk in Mixed-Signal PCB Traces and Ground Planes

Crosstalk in Mixed-Signal PCB Traces and Ground Planes Digital and analog elements, if not properly arranged, mix about as well as oil and water. While many consumer electronics operate in the purely digital regime, there are many devices that could not function without mixing digital signal and analog signaling within a single PCB. Just like in purely digital or purely analog PCBs, crosstalk and EMI can occur in mixed signal PCBs. These potential signal integrity problems can create a major headache Read Article

PCB Design Guidelines for Using a TVS Diode for Transient Protection

PCB Design Guidelines for Using a TVS Diode for Transient Protection Although it was highly educational and undeniably inspiring to witness the early days of the Internet, I don’t miss the slow speeds or endless technical issues. In those days, it took ages to check sports stats or open a simple email, not to mention the risk of thunderstorms damaging the computer. On stormy days, it wasn’t unusual to unplug the power to the computer and disconnect the phone cable connecting the computer to the internal dial modem Read Article

PCB Design Guidelines for Controlled Impedance Routing

PCB Design Guidelines for Controlled Impedance Routing In June 1831, Sir James Clark Ross discovered the North Magnetic Pole on the Boothia Peninsula in Northern Canada. While the term “discovery” seems to indicate that the North Magnetic Pole is static, the North and South Magnetic Poles, in fact, move continuously. The Earth’s magnetic field changes over time and as those changes occur, the positions of the poles also shift. Given the rate of movement at 55 km per year, we may have another meaning Read Article

Simulation Driven Design Can Solve Your PCB’s Signal Problems and More

Simulation Driven Design Can Solve Your PCB’s Signal Problems and More If you work in the electronics industry or in research, there’s a chance that simulations are a regular part of life. While working in optics, we would simulate everything from wavefront aberration corrections to microscope images. I always fell back on simulations to better understand the complex systems we were building. Simulation-driven design is taking the idea of this same process comfort and applying it throughout the whole design process Read Article

PCB Ground Plane Design in High Performance Boards

PCB Ground Plane Design in High Performance Boards Learn the best PCB ground plane design techniques to prevent signal and power integrity problems in this article. Read Article

Use Interactive Routing to Mitigate EMI Issues from High-Speed PCB Traces

Use Interactive Routing to Mitigate EMI Issues from High-Speed PCB Traces Having a robot clean the house and perform laundry chores continues to elude modern technology given intricate steps to complete each chore. Given the repetitive nature of the chores, you’d think robotic automation would be the perfect application to turn over to a robot. It turns out that cleaning the house and doing the laundry is much more complicated and too advanced for robot understanding. Only simplistic chores, like vacuuming the floor Read Article

Designing for Medical IoT Applications: Challenges and Considerations

Designing for Medical IoT Applications: Challenges and Considerations Ideally, any technology is going to drastically affect people and the ability of people to accomplish whatever tasks they need. Yet, when new technology is entering the medical domain, the stakes are always a bit higher: one has to be cognizant that any faults, errors, or malfunctions are going to immediately affect someone’s health. Granted, not every medical device is going to be life-or-death, but they should still be considered carefully Read Article

High-Speed PCB Design Analysis: Simulations and Signal Integrity Checks

High-Speed PCB Design Analysis: Simulations and Signal Integrity Checks When end of summer rolls around, I gather my family and head over to the State fair for magical excitement. During the year, the fairgrounds are deserted, small dust whorls blowing across the barren landscape. But when the fair is on, the fairgrounds are bustling with activity. There are booths with elephant ears, buildings with animals and demonstrations, and there are amusement rides with screaming kids. It is quite the juggling act with all Read Article

DDR4 routing guidelines

PCB Routing Guidelines for DDR4 Memory Devices Follow these DDR4 routing and PCB layout guidelines to ensure signal integrity and correct timing for high speed DDR buses. Read Article

Analog Meets Digital: How Converters Can Make or Break Signal Performance

Analog Meets Digital: How Converters Can Make or Break Signal Performance We are born into a world of purely analog signals. The sound of a stream running through a mountain meadow, the brown color of dirt, that screaming baby next to you; all of these ‘signals’ are of an analog nature. Yet, we grow up and seem to spend most of our time attempting to turn these signals into a reproducible ‘digital’ copy so we can perceive them through a digital device. Analog and digital signal performance is necessary to keep in mind Read Article

Build and Design an Inverted-F Antenna Directly on Your PCB

Build and Design an Inverted-F Antenna Directly on Your PCB Thursday night is New Tech night at The Nines hotel in Portland. At the last meeting, I realized that all the hardware engineers were building wireless Bluetooth and GPS devices. One can’t help but marvel at how a small strip of copper on a PCB allows us to connect so many different devices and solve such unique problems. An inverted F PCB antenna design is used in many mobile devices and a popular choice compared to chip antennas. Applications Read Article

EMI Reducing PCB Shielding Techniques to Incorporate in Your Designs

EMI Reducing PCB Shielding Techniques to Incorporate in Your Designs I spent most of my twenties producing and mastering music for local artists. As much as I love older consoles, it gets annoying to listen to audio from one channel bleeding over to other channels. Newer consoles are built with proper EMI shielding and crosstalk reduction measures, and the analog signals in these newer consoles are much cleaner. Digital devices are not immune either. Modern computers and smartphones continue to pack more silicon Read Article

PCB Noise Reduction with Linear Devices in Electronics

PCB Noise Reduction with Linear Devices in Electronics When I first got into electronics and PCB design as a student, I had the idea that noise suppression required a lot of elaborate (and expensive) equipment. I had visions in my mind of building complicated mainframe-style systems for the sole purpose of coaxing the perfect signal from a device. Sure, you can go that route if you like. But like many aspects of engineering, the best solution is often the simplest. Most PCB designers are considering Read Article

Choosing the Right RFID Card Technology For Your Embedded System

Choosing the Right RFID Card Technology For Your Embedded System As a pure introvert who fears small talk, I absolutely dread networking events. Besides maintaining endless empty chatter with strangers, picking out the best attire is challenging, especially considering my dreadful fashion sense. Thankfully, I’m much better at choosing the right type of Radio Frequency Identification or RFID card technology for my embedded system projects. What is an RFID Card? In the simplest sense, an RFID card is a token Read Article

Keep the Petals on: Optimizing Daisy Chain Wired Communication

Keep the Petals on: Optimizing Daisy Chain Wired Communication As a child, I was fascinated by trains. I remember staring down an empty railway for hours, simply waiting for a train to pass by. From my youthful perspective at the time, it was magical how the train never fell off the track despite essentially being a moving chain consisting of many . Although I eventually outgrew my obsession with trains, I became enamored by the daisy chain style of wiring for communication in electronics. As my career as an Read Article