EKH - EyeKnowHow

The Gigabit Challenge!
As many interfaces are reaching gigabit data rates signal integrity is getting more and more critical. Various different parasitic effects are going to disturb signal quality so that the receiving chip is not able to recognize the data bit sent by the transmitting device. Some effects are:

Inter Symbol Interference (ISI)
Crosstalk
Impedance mismatch between Driver (TX), PCB routing and receiver termination (RX)
Point to multi point topologies
Power/ground noise
It gets impossible to predict signaling performance just from experience
To ensure a “first time right” design, simulations need to be done. And the result, quite often a data eye, needs to be evaluated carefully and a Timing Budget has to be calculated. In case there is enough margin this result can also be used to reduce cost in case design guides are too conservative or just do not fit in your environment.

However, it is very expensive to invest in software and manpower needed to master the gigabit challenge. There is no need for this invest if you have a partner who has the “Eye” KnowHow!