Verifying Compliance During PCIe Re-Timer Testing Poses Challenges


In PCI Express (PCIe), a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard, Compliance mode is used for testing the transmitter and interconnect to assess if their voltage and timing are compliant with the specification. This testing happens in the Polling Compliance state which is a dedicated state for Compliance testing in the Link Training and Status State Machine (LTSSM). In Unraveling the... » read more

DSP Techniques For High-Speed SerDes


Sensors everywhere, more connected devices, and the rollout of smart everything has created a flood of data. The question now is how to best handle all of that data, where to process it, and how to move it locally and to the outside network. Madhumita Sanyal, technical product manager at Synopsys, talks about the need for continuous performance improvements in SerDes, PCIe, NRZ, and PAM4, and w... » read more

Using A Retimer To Extend Reach For PCIe 6.0 Designs


One of the biggest changes that came with PCIe 6.0 was the transition from non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signaling to PAM4 signaling. Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM) enables more bits to be transmitted at the same time on a serial channel. In PCIe 6.0, this translates to 2 bits per clock cycle for 4 amplitude levels (00, 01, 10, 11) vs. PCIe 5.0, and earlier generations, which used NRZ with 1 bit p... » read more

New Age Solution For Data Integrity And Authenticity


With the advent of faster processing chips, the rate of data transfer has increased enormously. Be it artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IOT), compute intensive analytics, or cloud computing, the demand for processing data in a fraction of a second is huge. Chips with superfast computing capabilities are used in applications where malfunctions can be life threatening, such as... » read more

Week In Review: Semiconductor Manufacturing, Test


Applied Materials sued its Chinese-owned rival, Mattson, over an alleged 14-month effort to steal valuable trade secrets, reports Bloomberg. In court filing, Applied Materials claimed that Mattson engaged in a spree of employee-poaching and covertly transferring semiconductor equipment designs. Global semiconductor materials revenue grew 8.9% to $72.7 billion in 2022, surpassing the previous... » read more

Server Design With Pin-Efficient CXL Interface (Georgia Tech)


A new technical paper titled "A Case for CXL-Centric Server Processors" was written by researchers at Georgia Tech. Abstract: "The memory system is a major performance determinant for server processors. Ever-growing core counts and datasets demand higher bandwidth and capacity as well as lower latency from the memory system. To keep up with growing demands, DDR--the dominant processor inter... » read more

How The Doubling Of Interconnect Bandwidth With PCI Express 6.0 Impacts IP Electrical Validation


As a result of the innovations taking place in CPUs, GPUs, accelerators, and switches, the interface in hyperscale datacenters now requires faster data transfers both between compute and memory and onto the network. PCI Express (PCIe) provides the backbone for these interconnects and is used to build protocols such as Computer Express Link (CXL) and Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe... » read more

100G Ethernet At The Edge


The amount of data is growing, and so is the need to process it closer to the source. The edge is a middle ground between the cloud and the end point, close enough to where data is generated to reduce the time it takes to process that data, yet still powerful enough to analyze that data quickly and send it wherever it is needed. But to make this all work requires faster conduits for that data i... » read more

Unblocking The Full Potential Of PCIe Gen6 With Shared Flow Control


As technology advances at a rapid pace, PCI Express (or PCIe) has grown tremendously, allowing data transfer up to 64 GT/s in Gen6. This technology is widely used in data centers, artificial intelligence and machine learning computing, high-performance computing accelerators, and high-speed applications—including high-end SSDs, automotive, IoT, and mil-aero. To fully utilize this high-spee... » read more

PCIe 6.0 Electrical Testing For High Data-Bandwidth Applications


For nearly three decades, PCI Express (PCIe) technology has been the standard interconnect inside computers providing high bandwidth and low latency to meet customer demand. However, as the industry needs to evolve, so does the standard, keeping pace and driving future innovation. PCIe 6.0 is ubiquitous and offers power-efficient performance and high bandwidth for latency-sensitive applicati... » read more

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