EELE 461/561 – Digital System Design Crosstalk

Module #5 – Crosstalk • Crosstalk

• Topics - Crosstalk (or X-talk) is when the switching on one signal causes noise on an adjacent line.

1. Near-End and Far-End Crosstalk - The Crosstalk can be due to Electric or Magnetic Field lines interacting with a neighboring line.
2. Simultaneous Switching Noise
- The term Crosstalk comes from the early analog phone lines where you could actually hear voices
from neighboring lines due to EM coupling.
• Textbook Reading Assignments
- Cross talk is due to the capacitance and inductance between conductors, which we call:

1. 10.1-10.12, 10.18 "Mutual Capacitance" (CM)

"Mutual Inductance" (LM)
• What you should be able to do after this module
• Superposition
1. Calculate NEXT & FEXT
- Crosstalk is based on the principle of Superposition where:
2. Calculate ground bounce
3. Use a modern CAD tool to extract crosstalk parameters for an interconnect structure 1) Multiple signals can exist on the same line without interacting or effecting each other.

2) An arbitrary signal can be coupled onto a line independent of what may already exist
on that line.

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Crosstalk Terminology • Crosstalk Classes

- We call the switching signal the "Aggressor" - There are two main classes of X-talk

- We call the line receiving the noise the "Victim" 1) Signal X-talk

- When CM and LM produce X-talk noise on the same order of magnitude

- When the signal path is the reason for the X-talk
- This is what we see on PCB's and on-chip traces

2) Switching Noise

- When the return path is highly inductive and the inductive noise dominates
- When the inductance in the return path is the reason for the X-talk
- This is what we see on packages and in connectors
- This is also called:

"Ground Bounce / Power Supply Droop"

"Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN)"
"Simultaneous Switching Output (SSO) Noise"

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Crosstalk Location • Crosstalk Definitions

- There are two locations where we observe and define X-talk - We define parameters for X-talk based on a double terminated system.

Near End - the location closest to the driving source resistor NEXT - Near End Crosstalk Coefficient (Vrev/VA)

Far End - the location closest to the receiving termination resistor FEXT - Far End Crosstalk Coefficient (Vfor/VA)

VA

Near End Far End Near End Far End

Vrev Vfor

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• SPICE Matrixes • Capacitive Crosstalk

- There can be multiple signal lines in a system - As the Aggressor Edge propagates down the line, it will inject current into the Victim line through
the Mutual Capacitance following:
- To keep track of their LC values, we use a matrix

- Each signal is given an index, where ground is "0" dV

I C  CM Far End
dt
- We define C11 as the self capacitance of signal 1 (and also for C22, C33, etc…)
- As the current is injected, it will see an
- We define C12 as the mutual capacitance between signals 1 and 2 (and also for C13, C23, etc….) equal impedance in both the forward
and reverse directions (i.e., 50ohms)
- In this system, C12 and C21 are equal IC
- As a result, the current will equally
- We then put all the values in a Matrix for easy record keeping split and half will travel forward
and half will travel backwards
- We do the same for the Inductances
C11 C12 C13
C21 C22 C23
C31 C32 C33

L11 L12 L13

L21 L22 L23 Near End
L31 L32 L33

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk • Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End)

- The total amount of current injected at any given time is related to the spatial extent of the risetime - Half of the current injected into the victim as the incidence voltage step travels down the
aggressor travels back to the Near End.
- This can be described using the per unit length value for Mutual Capacitance (CM')
- At any given time, only a fixed amount of current will be observed at the Near End
CM  CM 'x Far End - This means the Near End voltage will raise to
CM  CM 'vel  t rise 
IC
a fixed value and remain there.

- The total amount of instantaneously injected - At the point the aggressor edge reaches the
current is then described by: end of the line (TD), the injected noise
IC on the victim still needs to travel
back to the Near-End (taking another TD). IC
dV
I C  CM
dt - This means the fixed noise level at the
Near End will remain for 2·TD
 V 
I C  CM  vel  t rise    
'

 t rise  IC

I C  CM  vel  V
'

Near End
Near End

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End) • Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End)

- This gives a voltage profile at the near-end as follows: - We can convert this into a ratio of Voltages by looking at KCL at an arbitrary point of injection.

dVA/dt
A

IC

B 
IC
- The maximum amount of current injected is reduced by a factor of 1/2 to account for the injected
energy splitting in both the forward & reverse directions.

- This current is further reduced by an additional factor of 1/2 to account for the energy - a dV/dt occurs on the aggressor node which is seen across the CL of the aggressor and
being spread out over 2·TD CM of the victim.

1 1 1 (NOTE: we assume that the victim line is at 0volts for our derivation)
I C        CM  vel V     CM  vel V
' '

2 2 4

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End) • Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End)

- this change in voltage causes a current to flow through CM given by: - we can now relate the magnitude of the voltage observed on the aggressor (VA) to
the voltage on the aggressor (VB)

I CM  CM 
dV
 CM 
0.8VA
dt trise dVA/dt I CM  I CL dVA/dt
A A

- when this current reaches the victim line and evaluate KCL,
CM 
0.8 VA  CL 
0.8 VB
it instantaneously sees opens in the directions of the Inductors
due to their high impedances at AC. As a result IC t rise t rise IC
100% of the current flows into CL of the victim.

VB CM
I CM  I C L B   B 
IC VA C L IC

- This current in CL then creates a dV/dt given by:

- this is the total voltage created at the injection point prior to the inductors

I CL  CL 
dV
 CL 
0.8VB beginning to conduct and allowing the current to flow in both the forward
and reverse directions.
dt trise

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Near End) • Capacitive Crosstalk Far End

- we now apply our 1/4 factor to come up with our final expression for the magnitude - As the Aggressor edge propagates down the line,
of the capacitively coupled voltage observed at the Near-End it will inject current into the Victim line through
the Mutual Capacitance
IC
- We've derived the Near End Cross-talk
due to Mutual Capacitance and saw
that the voltage rises to a constant level
 VNE  1 C  and remains there for 2·TD
     M 
 VA CM 4  CL 

Near End

 VNE  1 C 
     M 
 VA CM 4  CL 

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Far End) Far End IC • Capacitive Crosstalk (Far End) Far End IC

- Now we look at the Noise observed at the Far-End - The net voltage at the far end will be the sum
of the Victim line. of all of the injected current along the length
of the coupled line.
- This noise is due to the forward traveling IC IC
current that is injected through CM. - The TOTAL amount of current that is
injected through CM is proportional to
the total length that the lines are coupled.
dV
I C  CM
dt IC IC
dV
 V  I Ctot  CM
I C  CM  vel  t rise    
'
dt
 t rise   0.8 VA 
I Ctot  CM  length    
'
I C  CM  vel  V
'
Near End
 t rise  Near End

- 1/2 of this current travels forward toward the Far-End.

- The current noise is not seen until the Aggressor incident wave reaches the Far-End

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Far End) • Capacitive Crosstalk (Far End)

- All of the current that is injected into the victim dVA/dt - We can now relate the total current injected along dVA/dt
line will add together and be injected into A the line to the voltage induced at the Far-End A
the last CL segment of the Victim at the Far-End using:

- The current in the last segment is

described as: IC IC
I Ctot  I CL
Sum(IC) Sum(IC)
 0.8  VA 
CM  length   
'
  C L '  vel  t rise  
0.8 VB
dV B  B 
I CL  C L  x   t rise  t rise
'
IC Sum(IC)
dt
I CL  C L  vel  t rise  
' 0.8VB
 VB   length   CM 
 V    vel  t    C 
t rise
 A  FE  rise   L 

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Capacitive Crosstalk (Far End) • Inductive Crosstalk

- We now apply our factor of 1/2 to account for the forward and reverse traveling current and we get: - Magnetic Fields exist as the current travels down the Aggressor line.

 VFE  1  length   CM  - These B-field lines induce B-field lines around the Victim line, which in turn creates current.
        
 VA CM 2  vel  trise   CL  - The direction of the B-field lines in the Aggressor follow the Right-Hand-Rule.

- The direction of the B-field lines in the Victim are opposite of the Aggressor.

NOTE: The magnitude of FE X-talk can get very large because it is proportional to coupled length
and inversely proportional to trise

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Inductive Crosstalk • Inductive Crosstalk

- The B-Field lines induced on the Victim create a current that flows in the opposite direction - The direction of the induced current creates a Negative Voltage at the Far-End
of the Aggressor current. and a Positive Voltage at the Near-End as it flows through the termination impedances.

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Inductive Crosstalk (Near End) • Inductive Crosstalk (Near End)

- Just as in Near-End Capacitive X-talk, the currents that are induced by the inductive coupling - The current that flows through the self inductance of the Aggressor line causes a voltage on
will travel back to the Source (or Near End) over a time span of 2·TD the Victim line as follows:

dI A
VM  LM 
dt

- This voltage appears across the Line

inductance of the Victim which in turn IA
causes a current to flow: +
IB VL
-
dI B
VL  LL 
dt
I I I I

Near End

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Inductive Crosstalk (Near End) • Inductive Crosstalk (Near End)

- Since the coupled voltage (VM) is the same as the Victim line voltage (VL) which creates the - Now we have a relationship between the Aggressor and Near-End Victim Voltages:
current, we can relate the currents of the Aggressor and Victim.

VA V
VM  VL LM   LL  B
t rise t rise
dI A dI
LM   LL  B LM VB
dt dt IL

LL VA
IA I
LM   LL  B IL
t rise t rise - We now apply a factor of 1/2 for the forward/reverse traveling current and 1/2 to account for the
energy being split out over 2·TD
- This can be converted to voltage by
multiplying the current by the
impedance (which is the same
in both lines):  VNE  1 L 
     M 
I Z I Z  VA  LM 4  LL 
LM  A  LL  B
t rise t rise Near End
VA V
LM   LL  B
t rise t rise

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Inductive Crosstalk (Far End) • NEXT

- The exact derivation is applied to the Far-End inductive Xtalk to derive the maximum amount of - We can combine all of the coupling at the Near-End to come up with the
noise due to Inductive coupling.
Near End Crosstalk Coefficient (NEXT)
- The only difference is that the magnitude of the Far-End noise is NEGATIVE.

V  1  C L 
NEXT   NE     M  M   kb
 VA  4  CL LL 
 VFE  1  length   LM 
       
 VA  LM 2  vel  trise   LL 
- We define kb as the Backward Coefficient which is only in terms of intrinsic values.

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• FEXT • Total X-talk

- We can combine all of the coupling at the Far-End to come up with the - If we look at NEXT, we see that:

Far End Crosstalk Coefficient (FEXT)

V  1  C L 
NEXT   NE     M  M   kb
V  1  length   CM LM   VA  4  CL LL 
FEXT   FE         
 VA  2  vel  t rise   CL LL  1) Near End X-talk doesn't depend on risetime
2) Near End X-talk is always positive (for a rising edge on the Aggressor)

- We define kf as the Forward Coefficient which is only in terms of intrinsic values. - If we look at FEXT, we see that:

1  CM LM   V  1  length   CM LM 
kf     FEXT   FE         
2  vel  CL LL   VA  2  vel  t rise   CL LL 

1) Far End X-talk depends on coupled length and trise

where, 2) FE X-talk can actually cancel if the ratios of Capacitance and Inductance are equal
 length 
FEXT     k f
 vel  trise 
- NOTE: this cancellation occurs if all of the field lines are contained within a
homogenous dielectric.

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Scaling Near-End X-talk • Switching Noise

- If the coupled length of the T-line is shorter than the risetime, the peak value of NEXT will not - We've covered the 1st class of X-talk (Signal X-talk)
reach its maximum value.
- Now we turn to the 2nd class of Crosstalk:
- We scale the maximum value that it will reach using:
2) Switching Noise

- When the return path is highly inductive and the inductive noise dominates
Length of Coupled Region
NEscaling  - When the inductance in the return path is the reason for the X-talk
Length of Risetime - This is what we see on packages and in connectors
- This is also called:

"Ground Bounce / Power Supply Droop"

- Risetime is converted to Length using: or

"Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN)"

lengthrise  vel  trise or

"Simultaneous Switching Output (SSO) Noise"

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Switching Noise • Switching Noise

- When we derived the LC model of a transmission line, - When the signal travels through connectors or packages, the shape of the return path changes.
we assumed that the ground (or return path) was a
perfect conductor. - This typically results in a return path with the same geometry as the signal.

- That allowed us to model the ground with a simple wire.

- This is reasonable in a transmission line when the

ground conductor is much larger than the signal
conductor.

Ex) PCB trace:

- the signal sees an infinite ground plane

beneath it.

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Switching Noise • Switching Noise

- This means we need to model the - This geometry change in the conductors results in a highly inductive path that the current
return path's electrical properties. needs to flow through.

- The capacitance between the signal and - In addition, the capacitance typically is reduced due to the surface area of the connector/package
ground is already present in our LC model. being less than in the trace section of the link.

- However, we need to add an inductive component

into the return path for an accurate model

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Switching Noise • Switching Noise (Ground Bounce)

- This inductive interconnect is the source of Switching Noise - The return current that passes through the inductive interconnect causes a voltage
to form following:

dI A
VN  Lret 
dt

- This voltage changes the ground potential of the integrated circuit relative to the ground of the
system which gives the name Ground Bounce

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Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Switching Noise (Ground Bounce) • Switching Noise (Ground Bounce)

- This becomes a more critical problem when signals in packages and connectors share a - ex) Lret = 10nH
common return pin. trise=800ps
Z0=50
- It is cost effective to reduce the pin count of packages/connectors by sharing ground pins.
 0.8  VA 
VGbounce   Lret    # of signals 
t rise  Z 0 
- However, the Ground Bounce now becomes proportional to the # of signal lines using
that return pin. 

 dI 
VN   Lret  A   # of signals  
VGbounce  10n 
0.8 1 
  1
 dt 
 800 p  50 

- This can be related to voltage by using V=IZ

VGbounce  0.2v

 0.8 VA  - a positive dv/dt causes current to flow back to

VN   Lret    # of signals 
trise  Z 0 
the source. The inductor acts as a passive
 element in this case so the voltage induced
causes the source ground to become negative.

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 Crosstalk Crosstalk

• Switching Noise (Mutual Inductance) • Switching Noise (Mutual Inductance)

- there is also mutual inductance that couples between the signal inductance and the - ex) Lret = 10nH
return path inductance. LM=2.5nH
trise=800ps
- in this case, the inductor acts as a voltage source in the return path, which creates a voltage Z0=50
in the opposite polarity as the noise caused by the return current.
 0 .8  V A 
- this actually has the result of decreasing the total inductive ground bounce noise and VNM   LM  
can be a good thing.  t rise  Z 0 

- however, this is a secondary effect compared to the noise generated when multiple signals
share a common return path.  0 .8  1 
VNM   2.5n  
 800 p  50 

VNM  0.05v
- Mutual inductive coupling causes the return
inductor to act as a voltage source so the
resultant voltage is opposite in polarity to the
return noise. The total voltage in this case
is: -0.2 + 0.05 = -0.15v

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