Design of Experiment Methods in High Speed Signal Via Transition in Printed Circuit Board

With increase in data transfer speeds between integrated circuits, memories and connectors, the interconnects in printed circuit boards require careful design and optimization. A critical part of an interconnect is via transition. To meet the design goals and maintain signal integrity, every part of the interconnect needs to be carefully designed. Designing via involves variation of several parameters and it is extremely important to understand their contribution to find the usable parameters yielding best possible performance. Out of these numerous combinations of parameters, Design of Experiments (DOE) can offer much needed understanding, suggest possible values and speed up the design process. In this manuscript, two DOE methods (Box-Behnken Design and Central Composite Design) are used to understand the behavior of a pair of vias operating in differential mode.