Wizards of Electromagnetism

Accurate modeling and simulation of high speed digital connectors is critical for successful chip-to-chip and board-to-board interconnects. Using a 10.2 gigabit per second HDMI connector as an example, this episode demonstrates how a time-domain EM simulator helps in identifying problem areas in general and impedance discontinuities in an HDMI connector in particular. The speed of the simulator makes it easy to run multiple simulations for a better understanding and to optimize the impedance profile throughout the transitions. As a result, high performance connector designs can be achieved.

Problem: Minimize reflections due to the 29-pin HDMI connector used in a HDTV system.

Action: Simulate the step response of the connector in a 100-ohm test bench using a finite difference time domain EM simulator. Each simulation take only 20 minutes, allowing “what if” design space exploration. Time-domain reflectometry (TDR) display gives insight into the type (inductive versus capacitive) and physical location of the parasitic impedance changes for each configuration, making it easy to change the geometry for the next simulation run.

Result: Optimized impedance profile, close to 100-ohms differential throughout the connector path length.

Read the full details in our presentation EM Insights Series – Episode 6 – High Speed Digital Connector Optimization

See the full series at EM Insights Series