High-speed signal routing basics in PCB Design - Interactive Code Practice

Practice - 5 Tasks

1fill in blank

easy

Complete the code to define the characteristic impedance of a microstrip line.

PCB Design

Z0 = 87 / sqrt([1] + 1.41)

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Atrace_length

Btrace_width

Csignal_frequency

Ddielectric_constant

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using trace width instead of dielectric constant

Confusing frequency with dielectric constant

The characteristic impedance depends on the dielectric constant of the PCB material.

2fill in blank

medium

Complete the code to calculate the signal delay in a PCB trace.

PCB Design

delay = sqrt([1]) * length / speed_of_light

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Asignal_frequency

Brelative_permittivity

Ctrace_width

Ddielectric_constant

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using signal frequency instead of permittivity

Using trace width incorrectly

Signal delay depends on the relative permittivity of the PCB material.

3fill in blank

hard

Fix the error in the formula to calculate the impedance of a differential pair.

PCB Design

Zdiff = 2 * [1] - Z0

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

AZsingle

BZ0

Ctrace_spacing

Dsignal_speed

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using Z0 instead of Zsingle

Using trace spacing directly in formula

Zsingle represents the impedance of a single-ended trace, which is needed to calculate differential impedance.

4fill in blank

hard

Fill both blanks to complete the formula for signal integrity margin.

PCB Design

margin = [1] - [2]

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Amax_signal_voltage

Bnoise_voltage

Cthreshold_voltage

Dground_reference

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Subtracting threshold voltage instead of noise

Using ground reference incorrectly

The margin is the difference between the maximum signal voltage and the noise voltage.

5fill in blank

hard

Fill all three blanks to complete the formula for crosstalk voltage.

PCB Design

Vcrosstalk = [1] * [2] / [3]

Drag options to blanks, or click blank then click option'

Acoupling_coefficient

Baggressor_voltage

Cdistance_between_traces

Dsignal_frequency

Attempts:

3 left

💡 Hint

Common Mistakes

Using signal frequency instead of distance

Mixing aggressor voltage with coupling coefficient

Crosstalk voltage depends on coupling coefficient, aggressor voltage, and inversely on distance between traces.