CROSSTALK ANALYSIS OF INTERCONNECTION LINES AND PACKAGES IN HIGH-SPEED INTEGRATED-CIRCUITS

This paper presents a novel approach for the analysis of crosstalk, propagation delay, and pulse distortion of interconnects in high-speed integrated circuits, packages, and circuit boards. First, based on the frequency-domain modal analysis, a set of formulas have been derived to describe the voltage and current transfer functions of coupled interconnects with arbitrary linear termination impedances. Next the transfer function is expanded to its Taylor series form. The inverse Fourier transform is then applied to the significant terms in the series. As a result, we have obtained analytical expressions of the time-domain waveforms for lossless multiconductor interconnection lines. It has been found that the weak-coupling assumption, frequently assumed in previous works, is only marginally valid. In a typical interconnection configuration, the secondary coupling of the disturbed line on the original signal line is substantial and must be taken into account for accurate prediction of the waveforms. Simulation results are given to illustrate the influence of the layout parameters of the interconnects and the rise or fall times of the source signal. In addition, it is shown that ground conductors need to be placed on both sides of each of the signal lines to reduce crosstalk effectively. However, the presence of the ground conductors not only increases the layout complexity, but also, more importantly, results in more severe waveform distortion for the signal on the active line. © 1990 IEEE