Application note: Debugging your high-speed digital design

Focusing on Signal Integrity, Power Integrity, and EMI

Digital Design

As digital designs continue to reach higher speeds, the characterization of signal integrity (SI) remains an essential task, but it is no longer sufficient. Two related domains expand and enhance the assessment of system behavior and performance: power integrity (PI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI). As with any measurement task, choosing the right tool for the job is an important key to success. This paper presents the tools that are most useful for characterizing SI and PI, and for debugging EMI: oscilloscopes, vector network analyzers, and spectrum analyzers. Learn which instrument is ideally suited for the measurements you need to make.

  • Physics versus perfection
  • Putting it all together: SI, PI and EMI Debug
  • Choosing the right tool for the job