Hi All, The XAUI spec mandates putting the AC coupling CAPs for the SERDES links to allow inter-operability among different SERDES technology vendors due to probable different internal BIAS levels. But for the scenarios where the SREDES cells are same does it helps in any way to AC Couple the SERDES links. The scenarios may be where there is 40" of PCB trace running from a line card to backplane and finally to a Fabric Card. The SERDES cells are matched in the sense that they are having same characteristics and from same vendor. The BIAS voltage is generated on board with 5% regulation. I do not expect any high current transients on the BIAS voltage and it is well filtered and decoupled. Also there is a consistent Ground Plane bridging at backplane connectors so the GND differential across the TX to RX points should not cause any significant BIAS reference shifts. The whole issue is due to fact that the Transmit Pairs of the SERDES are 2-3 rows deep in the package so adding the AC Cap will force to add two more VIAs on the routes adding to deterioration of the signaling quality. Thanking all in advance for their valuable suggestions. Best Regards, /---------------------------------------------------------/ Harjeet S Randhawa, Nevis Networks INC. /--------------------------------------------------------/ ------------------------------------------------------------------ To unsubscribe from si-list: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field or to administer your membership from a web page, go to: //www.freelists.org/webpage/si-list For help: si-list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'help' in the Subject field List FAQ wiki page is located at: http://si-list.org/wiki/wiki.pl?Si-List_FAQ List technical documents are available at: http://www.si-list.org List archives are viewable at: //www.freelists.org/archives/si-list or at our remote archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/si-list/messages Old (prior to June 6, 2001) list archives are viewable at: http://www.qsl.net/wb6tpu