Electronic design engineers rarely have the luxury of ignoring the analog effects of their digital signals which can contribute to sub-par signal integrity (SI). And using rules of thumb can over-constrain a design, wasting space and power. So how do you properly constrain a design to ensure appropriate signal integrity? Finding that sweet spot can save time andmoney. Finding that sweet spot can take an expert and it is difficult to be an expert on all technologies. SPICEsim's subject matter experts (SMEs) have a tremendous amount of experience working with leading-edge technologies.

They can help you answer these questions (and more!):

• Are your termination strategies fine-tuned to minimize real estate and power consumption?
• Do your designs with high performance busses like PCIe, will operate reliably over temperature and voltage swings?
• Does your stackup handle the high speed issues like ground bounce, SSN, 3.125 Gbp/s XAUI backplane with degradation due to loss?
• Are the affects of fast edges and layout, and EMI?
• How do you design optimal constraints for layout without simulation? Or if you simulate, how do you find those optimal strategies and values?
• Is cross-talk strategy part of your PCB design process?

SPICEsim develops designs in-house and provides specialized support and simulations for high-speed and high-density PCB design. We offer two packages for OEMs who have completed their schematic design.

SI Basic

• Pre-layout simulations (bus ringing, bounce, xtalk, impedance, and timing)
• PCB materials, stackup, placement, and routing guidelines
• Post-layout simulations

SI Turnkey

• System Architecture and Schematic design review
• IBIS, HPSICE, and DML model collection, verification, and creation as required
• Consulting with client’s PCB Fab, Assembly, and Test vendors, introduction to alternates if needed
• Pre-layout simulations
• PCB layout (includes layout placement & routing reviews with client)
• ICT fixtures & code as required
• JTAG Boundary Scan Test Vector Generation as required
• Post-layout simulations
• Final gerbers, silk screens, valor checks

How Accurate Are The Signal Transmission Models?

At SPICEsim, all models of each segment of the transmission system, including connectors, stubs, plated holes, component package leads, etc., are derived from complete planar and spatial electric and magnetic field distributions within and around the metal and dielectric media which make up the structures. The result is a signal transmission model with a very high degree of accuracy.

Our engineers have performed Signal Integrity Analysis for PICMG and VITA, in developing many new backplane standards. These include PICMG 2.16 (Ethernet switch fabric), PICMG 2.17 (StarFabric switch fabric), PICMG 2.18 (RapidIO switch fabric), and VITA 1.5 (VME 2eSST protocol).