Mark, One plus point for wide traces is that the etching tolerance, +/- 1 mil on a 10 mil trace has less effect than +/- 1 mil on a 4 mil trace, same goes for the spacing between the pairs. Dave Instone Oxford Semiconductor Ltd 25 Milton Park Abingdon Oxon ox14 4sh UK www.oxsemi.com +44 (0)1235 824963 Mark Burford wrote: > Dear all, > I would like to ask opinions, on the merits and disadvantages of using > wide or narrow microstrip lines. > > >From where I am sitting it looks like narrow microstrip diff. pairs have > it won hands down. > > > > Thick lines: > > More area...which gives more dielectric loss as dielectric loss over > takes skin effect losses at higher frequencies. > > More S11 because any corner on the line will give a greater area and > more capacitance. > > Thicker substrates to keep the impedance at the right value. > > As thicker microstrip lines go round a bend, the inter-pair skew will be > more than for two narrow lines. > > There is also the possibility of increased EMI from thicker substrates > (been reading antenna design books). > > > > So please someone tell me why should we use thicker lines? And also > please could someone tell me the trip ups of HDI (high density > interconnect) such as how small can one realistically go with back plane > and inter-chip routing? > > > > Thanks > > Mark > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > 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 > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------ 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