Signal integrity: Influence of non-linear driver, different bit rates, and estimation by different algorithms

Signal integrity issue has become more and more important in recent years. In order to have a good signal quality, many aspects in a digital channel must be carefully considered. In this paper we compare the effects of non-ideal output driver and different power distribution networks (PDNs) on the signal integrity. The channel performance variation under different driving bit rates is also analyzed. In addition, to reduce simulation time, various algorithms for fast and accurate signal integrity estimation have been proposed [1, 4] as alternatives to the conventional time-consuming PRBS simulation. The next part of this paper compares the performances of these algorithms for a circuit with nonideal PDN. From these results, we could get a qualitative understanding of these algorithms.