Modeling of differential striplines in segmented simulation of printed circuit board links

The decomposition, i.e., segmentation, of multilayer printed circuit board links into constitutive parts by means of network parameter representations is widely accepted. This work examines implications of this procedure regarding differential links. For the first time, the physics-based single-ended stripline port is generalized to model coupled striplines in the environment of multilayer PCBs. Notably, results are general in nature and are not limited to the employed methods. The proposed approach allows for segmentation and computationally efficient simulation of links between very large via pin fields, where differential stripline pairs pose a common routing scheme. Its feasibility is validated using self-contained physics-based simulations as well as measurements and full-wave simulation results up to 40 GHz.