Signal INTEGRITY At a 'Glance'

摘要

Many types of faults can affect signal integrity. Single-net faults such as improper terminations can cause reflections. Crosstalk can occur from one net to another, and power and ground faults can introduce noise into signals. Jitter can be caused by external sources modulating the signal or by data-dependent delays. Eye diagrams can help identify many of these high-speed issues. By examining the eye it can be quickly verified that all the critical data sheet parameters of the latch have been met: upper and lower noise margins, setup time and hold time. Accurate measurements, including eye measurements, start at the probe tips. This is often a problem area. No matter the scope, it can't make measurements more accurate than the probe permits.