DesignCon 2024 has just announced its Best Paper Awards winners, and six Samtec authors are honored alongside their colleagues from other organizations.
Somewhat unique in the world of “conference paper presentations,” DesignCon papers tend to average about 30+ pages with extensive data and research. They frequently include authors across multiple companies and/or universities, which can lead to compelling content and fascinating connections between disciplines.
DesignCon Best Paper Awards serve to acknowledge authors as leading practitioners in semiconductor and electronic design. This year, two papers with Samtec engineers as authors were honored as Best Paper Finalists. And both of these papers advanced to become Best Paper Winners!
Selection Process
DesignCon submissions are judged on the merits of the paper as well as the quality of their delivered presentation during the event. The DesignCon 2024 nominees were announced late last year, after a review by members of the DesignCon Technical Program Committee, who rank the papers based on quality, relevance, impact, originality, and lack of commercial content. Winners are then chosen from the finalists based on the quality of their presentations as judged by attendee feedback at the conference.
PDN Characterization
The winning paper, “Impact of Finite Interconnect Impedance Including Spatial & Domain Comparison of PDN Characterization,” presented in Track #10 (Power Integrity in Power Distribution Networks, Power Supplies & Power Delivery) was authored by Istvan Novak, Gustavo Blando, Julia Van Burger, Samtec; Abe Hartman, Oracle; Jason Miller, Annapurna Labs; John Phillips, Shirin Farrahi, Kristoffer Skytte, Cadence Design Systems; Mario Rotigni, ST Microelectronics; Ethan Koether, Amazon.
Abstract: Over the past few decades, a lot of details have been worked out in power distribution network design, simulation and measurement. We have well-established PDN design procedures both in the frequency and time domains, we have simulation tools that can analyze the physical structure from DC to very high frequencies, including spatial variations of the behavior, and we also have frequency and time domain test methods to measure the steady state and transient behavior of the built-up systems. All of these pieces in our current toolbox have their own assumptions, limitations and artifacts and they constantly raise the challenging question that designers need to answer: how to select the design process, simulation and measurement tools and processes so that we get reasonable answers within a reasonable time frame with a reasonable budget. This paper will discuss a series of new challenges we now face as the PDN requirements of cutting-edge designs continue to evolve.
Precision Connectors
The winning paper, “Are 1.0 mm Precision RF Connectors Really Required for 224 Gbps-PAM4 Verification,” was authored by Brandon Gore, Richard Mellitz, Andrew Josephson, Samtec; Francesco De Paulis, University of L’Aquila; John Calvin, Luis Boluna, Mike Resso, Rick Rabinovich, Keysight Technologies. It was presented in Track 13: Modeling, Analysis & Optimization of Interconnects.
Abstract: As Ethernet and OIF Standards groups begin to wrestle with the technical feasibility of 224 Gbps-PAM4 signaling in order to standardize electro-optical requirements of data center communication, a particular challenge of measurement verification is beginning to emerge. Previous generations of standardization have set a bandwidth minimum target as ¾ of the Baud rate. This paper will explore what is meant by bandwidth during the standardization process, the implications of test and verification attached to certain bandwidth requirements, as well as differences between acquisition range, band limited, filters, and s-parameters time domain usage. Sensitivities of 1.0 mm mechanical tolerances on measurement to simulation correlation are presented. Channel level performance metrics with the trending of current channel compliance methods are compared. The summary includes the challenges and potential mitigations ahead.
- Download PDF of Paper
- Download PDF of Slides
Signal Integrity Center of Excellence
Samtec has created the Signal Integrity Center of Excellence area of its website to help you find the resources you need to develop your design. This section includes online design tools, technical resources, technical education, models, and videos. For specific questions, feel free to contact [email protected] to work directly with a technical expert.
Also See
224 Gbps PAM4 Interconnect Solutions – The Samtec Blog
Samtec Updates SI/PI Capabilities/Resource Landing Page – The Samtec Blog
Tips on Power Distribution and Breakout Region Design – The Samtec Blog
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