Signal Integrity Analysis for High Speed Datacom Interfaces

This application card highlights the importance of analyzing high-speed datacom interfaces for signal integrity, addressing the challenges posed by connecting these interfaces to oscilloscopes. It showcases how oscilloscopes with advanced jitter options can effectively analyze jitter contributions and assess the impact of test fixtures and traces on measurement accuracy.

Application Note Overview

Analyzing high speed datacom interfaces is an important task and ensures signal integrity. One major challenge of this analysis is the connection between the physical interface and the oscilloscope, as most of the datacom interfaces do not provide test connections suitable for RF. A test fixture is required as a bridge between the high speed datacom IF and the RF connector of the oscilloscope, but this will affect the signal integrity measurement. This application card demonstrates how oscilloscopes with advanced jitter option can analyze and separate jitter contributions. Additionally, the option can evaluate the impact of test fixtures and traces inherently, providing user a good understanding of the impact of their test setup.