Method and applications of oscilloscope waveform de-embedding

At multi-Gbps data rates, the electrical impact of test and measurement structures can distort the intended signals to be measured. Many specifications, such as PCI-Express, define a compliance point at which the electrical performance of a component must be validated. To practically perform the measurement, test fixtures on the PCB and cables to measurement equipment are often a necessary part of the measurement setup. This paper discusses a methodology for de-embedding the effects of the text fixtures and cables to recover the time domain waveform at the compliance point. De-embedding formulations are given and validated by time-domain waveform simulations. The methodology is then applied to a practical design to solve a real-world problem.