Increasing Channel Margin of Distorted Serial Systems

This paper introduces high-speed packaging designers to a broadly adaptable performance assessment tool designed to establish and demonstrate the operating margin of channels and channel features in 10 Gb/s serial systems. An interactive hardware tool is described that enables comparison of reference channel performance with that of selectively degraded channels and associated channel construction features. These degraded-performance channels are capable of incorporating a full set of critical channel parameters: backplane, daughter cards, active and passive devices including connectors and construction features necessary to support transmission. Any of these elements can degrade the performance of the entire channel. The performance of the channel or channel feature is then assessed under varying channel conditions by monitoring silicon response and used to establish a functional operating margin