"Snake Traces" On PCB's - GameCreators Forum

Author

Message

Dark Java Dude 64

Community Leader

14

Years of Service

User Offline

Joined: 21st Sep 2010

Location: Neither here nor there nor anywhere

Posted: 28th Dec 2011 11:35

Link

Hello! So i have seen a lot of PCB's with traces that are squiggly, and with some research i have found that these supposedly make all of the traces connecting components the same length so that the signals all arrive at their destination at exactly the same time on very time sensitive circuits. Is this correct?

There are 10 types of people: those who read binary and those who don't.

Back to top

Profile PM Website

TheComet

17

Years of Service

User Offline

Joined: 18th Oct 2007

Location: I`m under ur bridge eating ur goatz.

Posted: 28th Dec 2011 15:05 Edited at: 28th Dec 2011 15:07

Link

Yes, that is correct.

Every wire always has capacitive/inductive properties. When you have really high frequencies, the reactance of the wire increases, which means that the phase shift between voltage and current increases. When transmitting data on wires, you have to make sure that the phase shift is as small as possible, or that all of the signals have the same phase shift. And that's what those squiggles do. They make sure all of the parallel wires have the same length, and therefore all of the signals have the same phase shift when they arrive at their destination (because the impedance is identical).

TheComet