Considerations For High Speed PCB Track Design In 10Gb/s Serial Data Transmission

By Steve Bowers and Dr. Herbert Lage, Avago Technologies

Abstract

A fundamental evaluation of a variety of approaches for designing a high-speed (10 Gb/s) serial differential electrical channel is presented. The application of the electrical interface was simulated using HSpice software. It demonstrated how the signal quality can be affected by the use of microstrip versus stripline traces; the associated advantages and disadvantages of both are discussed. Example XFI channels were assembled from the simulation results to demonstrate viability of the application.

Introduction

This white paper describes the main considerations in the design of a PCB for the transmission of 10 Gb/s serial data. It has been written to aid the PCB designer with the layout for a host board for use with the Avago Technologies' 10 Gb/s HFCT-711XPD XFP LC differential serial transceiver and the electrical channel to the SerDes IC (XFI channel). The focus is on the frequency-dependent attributes of the various components within the electrical channel. In addition, the parametric issues of a pluggable connector are examined.