Package and PCB solutions for high-speed data link applications

Abstract

Continual increase in high-speed transfer rates is essential in today's world in order to keep up with Moor's law scaling and to meet application demands. This increase in information transfer rates is essentially limited by the bandwidth of the communication channel. Channel loss, signal crosstalk, and power integrity are the important factors affecting the bandwidth of the channel and must be fully understood when designing such high-speed links. Moreover, channel performance optimization requires system level analysis with co-design of different channel components in order to approach the maximum capacity of a channel. In this thesis, we focus on the essential aspects of high-speed channel design with an emphasis on the design of the package area. A technique for reducing discontinuities in the package is introduced, studied, and simulated on IBM package designs to obtain improved package performance. The critical Plated-Through-Hole (PTH) via region at the package and Printed Circuit Board (PCB) interface is also analyzed in a co-study to suggest design rules for overall improved system performance.