First published in the 2012 IPC APEX EXPO technical conference proceedings.
by: Chu-tien Chia, Richard Kunze, David Boggs, and Margaret Cromley; Intel Corporation
Signal integrity analysis has shown that printed circuit board (PCB) insertion loss is a key factor affecting high speed channel performance. Determining and controlling PCB insertion loss have thus become critical production requirements for achieving multi-gigabit per second data rates. The traditional laboratory method of measuring PCB insertion loss is difficult to adopt in high volume manufacturing (HVM) environments because it requires expensive equipment while providing very slow throughput times. In this study we assessed the feasibility of implementing a simpler and lower cost process to measure insertion loss.
Through the use of a new metrology developed by Intel engineers, we demonstrated it is capable of quickly and accurately measuring PCB insertion loss and is suitable for use in an HVM environment. Applying this method to a first time study of insertion loss variation in HVM, we measured lot to lot loss variation to be ~±0.05 Decibels (dB)/inch at 4GHz.
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