Hi, There is significant attenuation of the signal, consequently leading to bit errors. Your comments indicate that the narrow traces very well could be the cause. Thanks Mustansir -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- Mustansir Fanaswalla LSI Logic Corporation -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- -----Original Message----- From: si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:si-list-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Hassan O. Ali Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 9:01 AM To: Rudy Sterner; si-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [SI-LIST] Re: Trace Width @ 3Gb/s Rudy, Could you be specific on the kind of issues you have with the SerDes link? That way you can receive suggestions that are more specific to your situation. Yes, 4-mil tracks can be a problem. With those tracks, in a microstrip format you need less than 3-mil height to achieve close to 50-ohm single-ended line impedance (which might be your goal). With that small height and at that data rate, component pads (especially AC-coupling cap pads, if you have any) start to dominate heavily causing tremendous impedance discontinuities. In addition, narrow tracks give rise to higher loss - both line-loss and reflection loss due to pronounced discontinuities at various locations (the connector launch-point is one of the most important ones). Regards. Hassan. On Jun 10, "Rudy Sterner" <rsterner@xxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Hello, > > We have some issues with a SerDes which we think > may be related to the trace width on the serial line. The > serial port is a differential pair passing data at 3 Gb/s. > The trace width is 4 mils. Length is approximately 5 inches. > The differential impedance is 100 Ohms. Other information > which may be of use is the board material is FR-4 with an > Er of 3.9. It is specified at this data rate. > > My question is: Are the traces too narrow? Should I > expect better performance with 8-mil traces? > > Thank You > > Rudy Sterner > LSI Logic > ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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 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