How to Evaluate Crosstalk in High-Speed PCB Interconnects

Yuriy Shlepnev

President and Founder
Simberian

Crosstalk in high-speed PCB interconnects

Data rates and the amount of data transmitted through PCB interconnects are rapidly increasing in all signaling protocols (Ethernet, OIF, PCIe, UCIe, DDR, 5G…). This leads to an increase in interconnect density (bandwidth density) and a rise in crosstalk. Crosstalk is unwanted noise from coupled structures caused by signal leaks that degrade the useful signal, potentially reducing data transmission rates and even causing complete link failure.

The crosstalk noise increases with rising data rates and rise times and should always be evaluated in pre-layout as well as for the final PCB design. The question is, what metric should be used for such evaluation?

In this webinar, we will overview four common approaches for crosstalk quantification: using coupling coefficients, in the frequency domain, in the time domain, and in the probabilistic domain. All approaches will be compared and demonstrated through live analysis in Simbeor electromagnetic signal integrity software. The main takeaways are understanding the relationships between these crosstalk evaluation methods and recognizing how easily they can be computed and compared using Simbeor software.

What you’ll learn:

• Why crosstalk matters – Impact of rising data rates and interconnect density
• Causes and effects – How signal coupling leads to noise, data loss, and link failure
• Methods of crosstalk evaluation – Comparing coupling coefficients, frequency, time, and probabilistic domain analysis
• Live demo with Simbeor – Practical crosstalk analysis and computation

About Yuriy Shlepnev

Yuriy Shlepnev is the President and Founder of Simberian Inc., where he develops Simbeor electromagnetic signal integrity software. He earned his M.S. in radio engineering from Novosibirsk State Technical University and a Ph.D. in computational electromagnetics from the Siberian State University of Telecommunications and Informatics.

Yuriy’s work focuses on the development of electromagnetic software for high-frequency and high-speed digital circuits. He has contributed significantly to the field, being the principal developer of electromagnetic simulation software for Eagleware Corporation and a leading developer for Mentor Graphics. His research and findings have been published in numerous papers and conference proceedings.