Jitter Basics, Advanced,

and Noise Analysis

Mike Tranchemontagne, FAE
Agenda, Part 1
• Jitter Basics
◦ What is Jitter?
◦ TIE vs. Period Jitter vs. Cycle-to-Cycle 1 2
◦ Clock Recovery

• Advanced Analysis – Jitter Decomposition

A
◦ Motivation
◦ Terminology and Models

• Jitter for Busy People: Hints, Tips & Common Errors

• Q&A B pdf1 pdf2

C cdf1 cdf2
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Agenda, Part 2

• Motivations for Jitter & Noise Analysis

• Jitter/Noise Theory
• Jitter/Noise Measurements on Real Time scopes
• Q&A
Jitter Basics
Definitions / Clock-Recovery / Visualization Tools
What is Jitter?
• Definitions
◦ “The deviation of an edge from where it should be”

◦ ITU Definition of Jitter: “Short-term variations of the

significant instants of a digital signal from their ideal
positions in time”

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 Jitter is caused by many things…
• Causes of Random Jitter
◦ Thermal noise
▪ Generally Gaussian
▪ External radiation sources
▪ Like background conversations…random and ever changing

• Causes of Periodic Jitter

◦ Injected noise (EMI/RFI) & Circuit instabilities
▪ Usually a fixed and identifiable source like power supply and oscillators
▪ Will often have harmonic content
▪ Transients on adjacent traces
▪ Cabling or wiring (crosstalk)

◦ PLL’s problems
▪ Loop bandwidth (tracking & overshoot)
▪ Deadband (oscillation / hunting)

• Causes of Data Dependent Jitter

◦ Transmission Losses
▪ There is no such thing as a perfect conductor
▪ Circuit Bandwidth
▪ Skin Effect Losses
▪ Dielectric Absorption
▪ Dispersion – esp. Optical Fiber
▪ Reflections, Impedance mismatch, Path discontinuities (connectors)

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Types of Jitter
 Period Jitter

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Types of Jitter
 Period Jitter

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Types of Jitter
 Period Jitter
 Cycle-to-Cycle Jitter

– Cycle-to-Cycle Jitter is the first-order difference of the Period Jitter

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Types of Jitter (Visualization)

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Types of Jitter
 Period Jitter
 Cycle-to-Cycle Jitter
 TIE (Time Interval Error)

– Period Jitter is the first-order difference of the TIE Jitter (plus a constant)
Pn = TIEn - TIEn-1 + K

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Types of Jitter (Visualization)

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Advanced Jitter - Decomposition
Rj / Dj Separation
Motivations for Jitter Decomposition
• Speed: Directly measuring error performance at 1e-12 requires directly
observing MANY bits (1e14 or more). This is time consuming!
Extrapolation from a smaller population can be done in seconds instead of
hours.
• Knowledge: Jitter decomposition gives great insight into the root causes of
eye closure and bit errors, and is therefore invaluable for analysis and
debug.
• Flexibility: Already have a scope on your bench? You can do Jitter@BER
measurements without acquiring more, perhaps somewhat specialized
equipment.

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Common Terms
• Random Jitter (RJ)
• Deterministic Jitter (DJ)
◦ Periodic Jitter (PJ)
◦ Sinusoidal Jitter (SJ)
◦ Duty Cycle Distortion (DCD)
◦ Data-Dependent Jitter (DDJ)
◦ Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI)
• Bit Error Rate (BER)
• Total Jitter ~ (TJ or TJ@BER)
• Eye Width @BER
◦ versus Actual or Observed Eye Width

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Random Jitter (RJ)
• Jitter of a random nature is assumed to have a Gaussian distribution
◦ Central Limit Theorem

• Histogram (estimate) ↔ pdf (mathematical model)

• Peak-to-Peak = … unbounded!

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Deterministic Jitter (DJ)
• Deterministic jitter has a bounded distribution: the
observed peak-to-peak value will not grow over time

• Histogram = pdf (close enough)

Peak-to-Peak

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Periodic Jitter (PJ, SJ)
• TIE vs. time is a repetitive waveform

• Assumed to be uncorrelated with the data pattern (if any)

• Sinusoidal jitter is a subset of Periodic Jitter

Peak-to-Peak

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 Duty Cycle Distortion (DCD)
• DCD is the difference between mean TIE for rising edges and mean TIE for falling edges

• Causes
◦ Asymmetrical rise-time vs. fall-time
◦ Non-optimal choice of decision threshold

• For a clock signal, the pdf consists of two impulse

0.0v
-0.1v

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Data-Dependent Jitter
• DDJ or PDJ – used interchangeably

• ISI – usually considered to be the physical/electrical effect that causes DDJ (and DDN)

• Characterizes how the jitter on each transition is correlated with specific patterns of prior bits
◦ Due to the step response of the system
◦ Due to transmission line effects (e.g. reflections)

24” ISI

No ISI
” ISI
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 Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter
• Interconnect and board layout technology is advancing and the
greatest area of focus is in reducing the insertion loss and
Signal-to-Crosstalk ratio.

• The implications of complex channel interaction can be

observed and identified by examining the type and amount of
Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter or BUJ.

• There is a strong Cause–and-Effect relationship between

Crosstalk and BUJ which often gets classified as Random if
special steps are not observed.

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Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter (BUJ)
• Definitions of Jitter Properties:

◦ Bounded: Having a PDF (histogram) that does not grow in width as the observation interval increases

◦ Uncorrelated: Specifically, not correlated to the pattern of data bits

▪ Note that PJ (Periodic Jitter) is both bounded and uncorrelated  BUJ!

◦ Deterministic: Future behavior can be predicted based on observed past.

▪ Deterministic jitter is always bounded

▪ But… bounded jitter isn’t necessarily deterministic

◦ RJ: By convention, random jitter with a Gaussian histogram

◦ NPJ or NP-BUJ: Non-Periodic (Bounded Uncorrelated) Jitter. This is basically random jitter with a bounded PDF

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 Jitter Measurement in the Presence of
Crosstalk: Problem Summary
• Crosstalk-caused jitter typically is Bounded Uncorrelated Jitter (BUJ); depending on the spectra this should be separated as
either

◦ PJ (Periodic BUJ) or NPJ (Non-Periodic BUJ)

• In traditional oscilloscope-based jitter measurement methodology the more spectrally diffuse BUJ components
(i.e. NPJ) are not distinguished from RJ.
◦ The inflated RJ is multiplied by a factor, thereby grossly inflating TJ
Example: TJ = DJ + 14*RJ (at BER = 1e-12)

• This is well known and was documented e.g. in

“Method of BER Analysis of High Speed Serial Data Transmission in Presence of Jitter and Noise”, Zivny at all, DesignCon
2007.

2016-06-17 23
Crosstalk Problem Summary (Graphical Version)

Case 1:
RJ + PJ
Spectral separation
works very well

Case 2:
RJ + NPJ
Spectral separation
is no help at all

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Theory: Q-Scale Analysis for Detecting NPJ
• Cumulative Distribution Function
(CDF) for a Gaussian Distribution:

• Q Scale Definition:

• Q Scale for a Gaussian:

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Separation of BUJ and RJ Jitter Components Methodology
• After PJ and DDJ are removed using the spectral
approach, RJ + NPJ is converted to a histogram and then
plotted using the Q Scale
• Straight lines are fitted to the left and right tails to
determine both the RJ sigma and the dual-dirac weight of
the NPJ

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BUJ Separation Example
• Victim: PRBS7, 8 Gbps
• Aggressor: PRBS31, 10 Gbps
Raw View Folded View

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 BUJ vs. Legacy Jitter Decomposition Results

New BUJ Decomposition Legacy Decomposition

TJ@BER1, Math1 10.105ps TJ@BER1, Math1 11.159ps
RJ1, Math1 506.04fs RJ1, Math1 694.31fs
PJ1, Math1 3.6968ps PJ1, Math1 2.8264ps
DJ1, Math1 3.6968ps DJ1, Math1 2.8264ps
NPJ1, Math1 881.89fs TIE2, Math1 -25.694fs
TIE2, Math1 55.789fs Rise Slew Rate1, Math1 9.2843V/ns
Rise Slew Rate1, Math1 9.2627V/ns

TJ@BER1, Math1 9.9087ps TJ@BER1, Math1 10.315ps

RJ1, Math1 556.41fs RJ1, Math1 680.95fs
PJ1, Math1 2.6685ps PJ1, Math1 1.7365ps
DJ1, Math1 2.6685ps DJ1, Math1 1.7365ps
NPJ1, Math1 592.92fs TIE2, Math1 44.029fs
TIE2, Math1 89.108fs Rise Slew Rate1, Math1 9.3228V/ns
Rise Slew Rate1, Math1 9.2542V/ns

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DPOJET Setup for BUJ / NPJ Measurements
• Enable Spectral+BUJ either through the Preferences Setup or the Jitter Map

• Minimum # of UI control is only available via Preferences Setup

◦ Default is 1M but it can be reduced as low as 10k.

Default

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DPOJET Results for BUJ / NPJ Measurements
• Until the population requirement has been met, dependent measurements say “< Min # of UI”

• Clock NPJ measurement shows actual progress toward the population requirement

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Jitter Visualization

Gaussian Random Noise Sinusoidal Jitter

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Jitter Visualization - Histogram
 Shows the measurement values in a data set against the frequency
of occurrence
– Data sets with a large number of measurements provide a good
estimate of the probability density function (pdf) of the set
 Useful for identifying bi-modal distributions
 Shape of the histogram can identify source of jitter
– Random jitter has a Gaussian shape
– Period jitter is a saddle shape

Gaussian Random Noise Sinusoidal Jitter

32 2016-06-17
Jitter Visualization – Bathtub Plot
 Shows the Eye Opening at a Specified BER Level
 Note the eye closure of System I vs. System II due to the RJ- RJ is unbounded so the
closure increases as BER level increases
 System I has .053UI of RJ with no PJ
 System II has .018UI of RJ and .14UI of PJ @ 5 and 10Mhz

System I System I

System II System II

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Jitter Visualization – Time Trend
 Histogram does not have any context of time
 Time Trend can reveal repeating patterns that may indicate
modulation on the signal
 For example 5 cycle of SSC @ 30khz as shown below

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Jitter Visualization – Spectral Plot
 Frequency domain view of the signal content
 Deterministic components show as lines above the noise
 DDJ is at frequencies of the bit rate / pattern length (example
below is 5Gb/s PRBS7) Note the spikes at intervals of 40Mhz in
the plot.
 Constant Clock CR was used

DDJ
SSC

RJ

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 TIE Jitter needs a Reference Clock
• The process of identifying the reference clock is called Clock Recovery.
• There are several ways to define the reference clock:
◦ Constant Clock with Minimum Mean Squared Error
▪ This is the mathematically “ideal” clock
▪ But, only applicable when post-processing a finite-length waveform
▪ Best for showing very-low-frequency effects
▪ Also shows very-low-frequency effects of scope’s timebase
◦ Phase Locked Loop (e.g. Golden PLL)
▪ Tracks low-frequency jitter (e.g. clock drift)
▪ Models “real world” clock recovery circuits very well
◦ Explicit Clock
▪ The clock is not recovered, but is directly probed
◦ Explicit Clock (Subrate)
▪ The clock is directly probed, but must be multiplied up by some integral factor

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Importance of Clock Recovery
• From spec, “The jitter measurement device shall comply with the JTF”.

• How do I verify JTF?

◦ JTF is difference between input clock (ref) and input clock (unfiltered)
◦ Use 1100b or 0011b pattern (proper 50% transition density)
◦ Check 1) LF attenuation, 2) -3 dB corner frequency, and 3) slope

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JTF vs PLL Loop Bandwidth
• Configuring the correct PLL settings is key to correct measurements
• Most standards have a reference/defined CR setup
◦ For example, USB 3.0 uses a Type II with JTF of 4.9Mhz

• Type I PLL
◦ Type I PLL has 20dB of roll off per decade
◦ JTF and PLL Loop Bandwidth are Equal

• Type 2 PLL
◦ Type II PLL has 40dB of roll off per decade
◦ JTF and PLL Loop Bandwidth are not Equal
▪ For example, USB 3.0 uses a Type 2 PLL with a JTF of 4.9Mhz. The corresponding loop bandwidth is
10.126 Mhz
▪ Be careful not to confuse or swap Loop Bandwidth with JTF!

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PLL Loop Bandwidth vs. Jitter Transfer Function (JTF)

A: Constant Clock Recovery B: PLL Clock Recovery Ratio of B/A

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 Results depend on CR Settings USB 3.0 Example
• The example below shows the effects of using a JTF set to 4.9Mhz vs. Loop Bandwidth set to 4.9Mhz for
a Type II PLL

• Note the difference in the jitter that is tracked

◦ The results on the left are correct as the JTF was properly set to 4.9Mhz, as opposed to the loop bandwidth

Note: More
LF Attenuation
for case where
JTF set to
4.9Mhz and
lower TJ

2016-06-17 INTRODUCTION TO ADVANCED JITTER ANALYSIS 40

Further Comparison of PLL Types using Spectrum Plots

Constant
Type I
Clock
20 dB roll
All Jitter
off per
Passes
decade @
Through
4.9Mhz
Type II Type II
40 dB roll 40 dB roll off
off per per decade
decade @ @ 2.3Mhz
4.9Mhz (JTF to
illustrate JTF
! = Loop
Bandwidth

First Cursor in each plot is @ 33Khz to illustrate effect on SSC

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Further Comparison of PLL Types using Transfer Function Plots
Type II
40 dB roll off per decade @ 4.9Mhz

Type I Type II
20 dB roll off per 40 dB roll off per decade @
decade @ 4.9Mhz 2.3Mhz (JTF to illustrate
JTF ! = Loop Bandwidth)

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JTF Filtering Effects based on different PLL bandwidths
f3dB = 30 kHz f3dB = 300 kHz f3dB = 3 MHz

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 How do I know my JTF is compliant?
• Using DPOJET Transfer Function Plot the JTF can be
validated (SAS Example)

• Step 1: Capture 1100b (MFTP) pattern, with SSC on

• Step 2: Add TIE (TIE1) measurement and Configure

DPOJET PLL settings to match JTF requirements

• Step 3: Add TIE(TIE2) measurement and Configure

DPOJET Clock Recovery to Constant Clock

• Step 4: Add Transfer Function Plot to the TIE1

• Step 5: Configure Plot Numerator to TIE1 and

Denominator to TIE2

• Step 6: Place cursor on plot, the JTF BW should be 3dB

point

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Jitter for Busy People
Hints, Tips and Common Errors
 Using the Jitter Analysis Tools
• Issues manifested in different layers of the protocol stack
◦ Crosstalk, jitter, reflections, skew
◦ Disparity, encoding or CRC errors

• Where do I start debugging?

• Jitter and Eye Diagram Tools

◦ Oscilloscope-based for quick results
▪ Fast jitter measurements with
▫ ‘One Button’ Jitter Wizard
▪ Compare timing, jitter, eye, amplitude measurements
▪ User-definable clock recovery, filters, pass/fail limits, and reference levels
◦ BERTScope-based for deeper analysis
▪ Use stressed pattern modification to determine jitter sensitivity
▪ Evaluation with BER results and/or Eye Diagram

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Hints for Successful Jitter Analysis
• Verify that signal integrity (i.e. probing) is reasonable
◦ Reflections due to mid-bus probing can cause “duplicate” edges

• Check (and consider overriding) your autosets

◦ Reference levels are appropriate to the signal
▪ If the input signal is differential, consider locking the mid ref to 0 V.
▪ A strongly bi-modal histogram often signals a reference level problem.
▪ Is the signal noisy enough to require more hysteresis?
◦ Explicitly set the signal type to Clock or Data

• Use only the bandwidth you need

◦ If the scope BW exceeds the BW of the device being tested, you are adding some scope noise to the measurement
results

• Check your RJ/DJ settings

◦ Prefer repeating-pattern method over arbitrary-pattern, when practical
▪ The “One-Touch Jitter” wizard uses arbitrary-pattern
◦ Check that your pattern length is correct

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More Hints for Successful Jitter Analysis

• Clock Recovery has a great deal of influence on jitter results. Think about what
you’re trying to accomplish.
◦ Constant-Clock is the most “unbiased”
▪ Often best if you’re trying to see very-low-frequency effects
▪ But it can also show wander in the scope’s timebase
◦ PLL recovery can model what a real data receiver will see
▪ It can track and remove low-frequency effects, allowing you to “see through” to the jitter that
really contributes to eye closure
◦ Explicit-Clock is appropriate if your design uses a forwarded clock
▪ Make sure your probes are deskewed

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Hints for looking at Spread-Spectrum Clock
• If you don’t want to see the SSC effects, use TIE and PLL clock recovery with a bandwidth of at
least 1 MHz. A Type-II (2nd-order) PLL will track out the SSC more effectively than a Type-I PLL.

• If you do want to observe the SSC profile:

◦ Use a Period measurement and turn on a 3rd-order low-pass filter (in DPOJET) with a
bandwidth of 200 kHz
▪ Because Period trends accentuate high frequency noise, the low-frequency SSC trend will be
obscured if you don’t use a filter
▪ You can’t use a Frequency measurement directly. The combination of filtering and the reciprocal
operation (Freq = 1/Per) cause distortion in the resulting waveshape. (This is a mathematical fact, not
a DPOJET defect.)
◦ If you use a TIE measurement, you’ll see modulation that looks like a sine wave. This is
normal. It’s because TIE measures phase modulation, which is the integral of frequency. It
turns out that the integral of a triangle wave looks very much like a sine wave.

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Fast Isolation of Jitter Issues
 Deep memory capture
– Long records needed for low frequency
events (SSC, periodic jitter, low speed clocks)
– Frequency window related to time capture
– 1 SSC cycle (33kHz) => Need 30us time record

 Eye Diagram Analysis

– Quick visual indicator of voltage and timing
performance
– Related to Bit Error Rate (BER)

 Debugging Jitter
– Knowledge of jitter types and sources
aids in debug
– Common jitter sources
– Power supply coupling
– PLL (tracking or overshoot)
– Limited channel bandwidth and reflections (ISI)
– Driver imbalance (Rise/fall time asymmetry)

50 2016-06-17
Key Points
• In order to define edges within real signals, we must first identify one or more reference levels.
◦ Reference levels have a great deal of influence over jitter measurements.
◦ Improper choice of reference levels can cause clock recovery problems

• Different type of jitter measurement (TIE, Period, Cy-Cy) are mathematically related but
◦ Emphasize (or hide) different parts of the frequency spectrum
◦ Can distort modulation shapes due to integration or differentiation

• For TIE measurements, clock recovery is used to establish “ideal” clock locations. Choice of clock
recovery method and its parameters can greatly influence how jitter is revealed.

2016-06-17 ©TEKTRONIX 55W-29916-

51
0
Agenda, Part 2

• Motivations for Jitter & Noise Analysis

• Jitter/Noise Theory
• Jitter/Noise Measurements on Real Time scopes
• Q&A
 Anatomy of a Serial Data Link
Complete Link

+ + + + + + + +

Pre-Emphasis

Equalizer
- - - - - - - -

Transmitter Receiver

Channel

Design Goal: 0 errors

Practical Goal: Bit Error Rate < Target BER

• Since BER is the ultimate goal, why not measure it directly?

 Serial Data Link Integrity = Bit Error Rate
• Bit Error Ratio Testers (BERTs) are the tools for measuring BER directly

• Why not use ONLY BERTs for Serial Data Link Analysis?
◦ Difficult to model/emulate equalizer
◦ Measurements could take a very long time
◦ Instruments are more expensive and less flexible
◦ Less analysis of the root causes of link impairments

• Alternative approach: use a scope and advanced analysis tools

◦ Easily move from Compliance to Debug
◦ Better equipped to identify root causes of eye closure
◦ Equalizer can easily be modeled
◦ More cost effective
◦ Faster throughput

• BER requirements have been translated to Jitter and Noise budgets

Why Measure Jitter and Noise?
 Link Model: Transmitter + Channel + Receiver
 Transmitter generates a stream of symbols
 Receiver uses a slicer to make a decision on the transmitted symbol
 The Bit Decision is made by sampling (t) within the symbol interval and
comparing the sliced data to the decision threshold (v)
 Jitter impairs the time slicing position
 Noise impairs the decision threshold

Jitter combined with Noise Analysis is a better predictor of BER performance!

 A Quick Look at Jitter and Noise Duality
• Jitter analysis evaluates a waveform in • Noise analysis evaluates along a
the horizontal dimension based on vertical dimension on the basis of
when the waveform crosses a crossings of a vertical reference line,
horizontal reference line. typically in the center of the eye.
• Jitter decomposition based on • Noise decomposition based on
spectral analysis of Time Interval Error spectral analysis of voltage error
• Individual jitter components can be • Individual noise components can be
separated (i.e. PJ, RJ, DDJ, etc.) separated (i.e. PN, RN, DDN, etc.)
• TJ can then be estimated at a target • TN can then be estimated at a
BER level target BER level

56
 Jitter and Noise Decomposition
• Jitter and Noise Decomposition provide deep insight into BER
 Full Jitter Analysis vs. Mask Testing
• Jitter separation analysis is able to extrapolate total jitter or eye closure at various Bit Error Rates
at a specific voltage threshold but it doesn’t reveal the statistical eye closure at any
other voltage.

• Conventional mask testing considers both time and voltage but cannot extrapolate eye
closure at low BER.

Can we combine the best of both?

 Statistical Jitter + Noise Analysis
• By jointly analyzing Jitter and Noise, behavior at all points in the eye can be extrapolated at low BER

• The methodology is analogous to current jitter analysis, but is performed across both dimensions of
the eye
◦ Jitter and noise are separated into components (Random, Periodic, Data-Dependent,…)
◦ The components are reassembled into a model that allows accurate extrapolation.

59
 Timing-Induced Jitter
• Since jitter is defined as a shift in an edge’s time relative to its expected position, it is
easy to think of jitter as being caused by horizontal (chronological) displacement.

• Note that the displaced edge (green) has not moved vertically in this example.

60
 Noise-Induced Jitter
• Consider a burst of voltage noise (right) that displaces a waveform vertically.
◦ In this case, the displaced edge (green) has not moved horizontally.
• The jitter as measured at the chosen reference voltage is identical in these cases!
◦ So, why should we care?

• Two fundamentally different effects have caused the same amount of jitter, and either one will close the eye
by the same amount at this reference voltage, but:
◦ They will have different effects at other voltages where the slew rate is different.
◦ Their differences give insight to root cause

61
 Noise-to-Jitter (AM-to-PM) Conversion
• Since waveform transitions are never instantaneous, the slope (slew rate) of the edge acts as a gain
constant that controls how effectively noise is converted to “observed jitter”.

• An analogous effect occurs when voltage is measured at the center of the bit interval: If the slew rate is
not zero, then jitter will cause PM-to-AM conversion and appear as noise!

62
 Horizontal and Vertical Components of RJ
• We can think of RJ as being composed of two components.
◦ Horizontally induced: RJ(h)
◦ Vertically induced: RJ(v)

• Since these two components are uncorrelated with each other, they add in the
RSS sense:
RJ = RJ(h)2 + RJ(v)2
• Similarly, PJ can be decomposed into PJ(h) and PJ(v) based on root cause

63
 Horizontal and Vertical Components of RN
• We measure noise at a reference point in the bit interval (usually 50%)
• If slew rate isn’t zero, jitter (horizontal displacement) causes observed noise

• So as with RJ, RN can be decomposed into components:

◦ Horizontally induced: RN(h)
◦ Vertically induced: RN(v)
• Similarly, PN can be decomposed into PN(h) and PN(v) based on root cause

64
Noise to Jitter and Jitter to Noise Conversion
We can separate the noise
contribution of jitter for diagnostic
Non-impaired bit
purposes by breaking RJ into edge
RJ(v) and RJ(h)

Consider: an “ideal” edge in a pattern

actually has two impairments:
◦ Jitter(h) (see the blue trace)

– and Noise
(note that both of Jitter and Noise
result in jitter on edge)

The Combined response (bottom

right) includes the jitter
caused by noise
DPOJET and 80SJNB are the only tools that will show you this separation, and thus give you an important
troubleshooting hint: e.g. is it crosstalk causing trouble, or the clocks?

2016-06-17 INTRODUCTION TO JITTER ANALYSIS

 Construction of the BER Eye
• Consider a very simple pattern: 7 bit repeating
• Overlay multiple segments of the 7-bit pattern. Each one has noise and jitter, so
although the bit pattern is clear, they follow many slightly different paths:

• Average many pattern repeats together. Everything that is uncorrelated with the
pattern averages out. What remains is called the ‘correlated waveform’.
◦ This waveform fully characterizes DDJ, DCD, DDN, ISI – all data dependent effects

66
 Construction of the BER Eye – Part 2
• The correlated waveform can be snipped into individual bits and overlaid
to form an eye diagram, using the recovered clock as the alignment
reference. This forms the ‘correlated eye’:

◦ There is one waveform trajectory for each bit in the pattern

◦ Here we have shown the ‘1’ bits in red, and the ‘0’ bits in yellow
◦ This is how your eye would look if there were absolutely no RJ, PJ,
RN, PN, or crosstalk

67
 Construction of the BER Eye – Part 3
• Spectral jitter separation is used to find PDFs of the random and periodic jitter.
• The RJ and PJ PDFs are convolved to find the uncorrelated jitter PDF (red)
• A similar analysis of the noise yields the uncorrelated noise PDF (blue)
◦ Care must be taken to properly account for AM-to-PM and PM-to-AM conversion in these
steps; otherwise some noise or jitter would be ‘double-counted’.
• Two-dimensional convolution is used to create a joint PDF of uncorrelated jitter

68
 Construction of the BER Eye – Part 4

• The jitter/noise set is convolved (two-dimensionally) with the correlated eye for the ‘1’ bits to get the
overall (correlated + uncorrelated) PDF for ‘1’ bits

69
 Construction of the BER Eye – Part 5

• The ‘1’ bit PDF is integrated vertically (from bottom to top) to get the ‘1’
bit CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function)

◦ In this color-graded view, each color represents a particular BER level

70
 Construction of the BER Eye – Part 6

• A similar treatment for ‘0’ bits yields the ‘0’ bit CDF

71
 Construction of the BER Eye – Conclusion

Color-Graded View

3D View

• The ‘1’ bit and ‘0’ bit CDFs are added to get the overall “BER Eye”
◦ A particular BER contour can be found in the 3D version of this plot by slicing it
horizontally, or by extracting a specific color on either version
◦ Since this ‘eye’ looks rather unconventional, DPOJET extracts the BER contours and
then overlays them with the rendered eye.

72
Benefits of Noise Analysis
• Jitter combined with noise analysis enables us to quickly
determine the eye opening at a target bit ratio
• BER contour plots provide a quick multi-dimensional view
of the progression of eye closure as bit error rate increases
• But, that is not the complete story. Understanding and
decomposing the effects conversion of jitter to noise and
vice versa provides insight into the root cause of eye
closure
What Scope Platform for Jitter and Noise Analysis?

Real-time Scopes
The most versatile tool for
all areas of high-speed
System
digital and analog
applications
 Single shot acquisition ideal for
post processing
Sampling Scopes  Most advanced trigger system to
identify unique events
For applications that  Most flexible software-based
Add-In
place top priority on clock recovery
 Debugging and Troubleshooting
Cards waveform precision
 Over 60dB of dynamic
range, ideal for PAM
 High BW to 100Ghz
 Repetitive waveforms
 Very Low Jitter Noise Floor
Chip

R&D Verification/Compliance Manufacturing

Noise and Jitter Measurements with DPOJET
• Model system performance
at a target bit error ratio
• Understand the sources of
jitter and noise and the
conversion of jitter to noise
and noise to jitter
• Quickly determine the bit
error rate at multiple levels
using contours
• Correlated Eye provides
insight into the effects of
channels and equalization
Jitter and Noise Analysis with DPOJET
• Complete decomposition of both Jitter and Noise
◦ Jitter: TJ@BER, RJ, DJ, RJdd, RJ(v), RJ(h), DJdd, PJ, PJ(h), PJ(v), NPJ, DCD, DDJ, J2, J9, F/n, Subrate
◦ Noise: TN@BER, RN, RN(v), RN(h), DN, DDN, DDN(0), DDN(1), PN, PN(v), PN(h), Unit Amplitude

• Data Visualization
◦ Histogram, Time Trend, Data Array, Spectrum, Phase Noise, Transfer Curve, Eye Diagram, Bathtub, Waveform
Database for Mask Hit Violations, Bathtub, Composite Histogram
◦ NEW: Composite Noise Histogram, Noise Bathtub, BER Eye Contour, PDF Eye, BER Eye, Correlated Eye

76
Visualization of Eye Closure
• Noise Bathtub shows the vertical eye closure
• Traditional bathtub shows the horizontal eye closure
Jitter and Noise Distribution
• View the distribution of the individual jitter and noise components
Multiple Views of Eye Diagram
• Acquired Eye with BER Contours

• Correlated Eye
◦ Show the data dependent eye with all uncorrelated
effects removed

• PDF Eye with BER Contours

◦ Shows the underlying statistical model used to
generate the BER contours

• BER Eye with BER Contours

◦ Shows the probability of a hit vs. the location in the eye

2016-06-17
 Correlated Eye
• Correlated Eye illustrating the impact of equalization on an 8Gb/s PRBS7 signal

◦ Acquired Eye, Eye after the Channel and Equalization

◦ Ideally, the equalizer will compensate for the DDJ as in this case. The jitter between the acquired
eye and after the equalizer is within 3ps.

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BER Eye Contour Plot

• The BER Eye Contour plot provides the following insight:

• The horizontal line is positioned at the mid reference level used to make jitter measurements.
• The vertical line is positioned at the UI percentage (default 50%) used to make noise measurements.
• Multiple eye contours correspond to different BER levels
• A mask may be superimposed to check margin against a target BER contour
• Fully interactive plot (zooming, cursors, export)
Effects of RN and RJ on Eye Closure
• No RN, .15UI of RJ
Effects of RN and RJ on Eye Closure
 Baseline RN, .15UI of RJ
Effects of RN and RJ on Eye Closure
• Increased RN, .15UI of RJ
 DPOJET Report Generator
• Makes it easy to archive and share analysis results: Internet Explorer MHT file
Demo Setup
Demo Setup
As slew rate decreases, slows down, a given amount of vertical (voltage)
noise will appear as a greater amount of timing jitter
Summary
 DPOJET can measure the contribution of noise, as well as jitter to overall
system performance
 Provides a breakdown of the sources of noise – analogous to jitter
– RN, PN, DN, DDN, etc.
 Allows you to visualize overall eye closure at various Bit Error Rates without
very long measurement runs
 Provides deep insight into the interactions of noise and jitter, which can be
crucial for root-cause analysis

 Please visit www.tek.com/jitter for more information and white papers on jitter
and noise analysis

UNDERSTANDING AND CHARACTERIZING JITTER 89