Design, modeling, and characterization of passive channels for data rates of 50 Gbps and beyond

The design of interconnects for links operating at 50 Gbps and beyond is very challenging. The loss, dispersion, and discontinuities along the signaling path have to be minimized over a wide frequency range. Frequency dependent material properties and surface roughness has to be accurately considered. The impacts of short via stubs that are ignored at lower data rates can severely degrade the signals when operating at higher data rates. In order to provide ways to mitigate these effects and optimize the performance of the system, it is primarily essential to correctly model and characterize the passive channel. In this paper, the modeling and characterization techniques that guarantee successful designs of passive channels for data rates of 50 Gbps and beyond will be presented. Detailed studies and measurement results on the effects of short via stubs are also presented.