Differential pairs have been used in PC boards for years to carry high-speed serial and high-speed parallel data, in a variety of bus formats. Many board designers and engineers believe the rules for differential pairs are the same in a PCB as they are in cable or twisted pairs of wires. This is usually not the case!

This course will cover the advantages of differential pairs vs. single-ended lines, which differential pair format gives the best impedance control, what is the right spacing between the lines of a pair, crosstalk between differential pairs, what is important in differential pair routing, how much timing skew is really acceptable, the impact of material type and the impact of vias on signal integrity and EMI.