A numerical frequency domain technique for the optimization of high speed multi-conductor transmission line circuits based on the worst case design approach

In this paper, a deterministic "worst case" design approach based on a numerical frequency domain technique for the interconnect and package optimization of high speed digital circuits is presented. The frequency domain technique is based on using the modal analysis to suppress the natural resonances of multi-conductor transmission line networks. Once a network is optimized in the frequency domain, the optimized worst case timing and signal integrity parameters, based on which the maximum operating speed is determined, are computed in the time domain. Finally, to demonstrate the accuracy of technique, several numerical examples of multi-conductor networks are presented. The region of validity of the worst case design approach is substantiated by extensive Monte-Carlo analysis.