Course dates
This signal integrity course is available both as a public class and as private classes across the world – please email us to suggest a course date and location that works well for you. See also the self-paced video version of this course.
Next public class:
Live online, Jul 28, 2025
Note that these classes may close for signups two weeks prior if we do not meet the minimum participants threshold, so it is in your interest to sign up as early as possible.
Your alternative is our self-paced video course with all the same lectures – this can start any time.
Course description
The signal integrity course covers everything from the basic concepts to designing boards to handle up to 56 Gbps signaling.
Learn to estimate, calculate, and simulate signal integrity problems before they occur. Understand how to predict and quantify reflections, crosstalk, ground bounce, supply ripple, and loss. These are the basic signal-integrity issues in any modern digital design. Keep the total impact of those within the noise margin, and your system will work as predicted.
The goal of this course is to reduce the number of board revisions of your designs. Several of the companies that have participated in previous courses have achieved this.
The material is presented with a practical approach interchanging between theory and hands-on exercises. The tools used in the course are from Cadence or Mentor Graphics. Yet, the tools are used as just that: tools. It’s not a course on how to operate the tools, but in understanding the results.
Examples used through the material includes the design of DDR memory systems, clocks, fast LVDS differential buses, PCIe, PCI, and similar buses.
Also, see what previous participants think about this course.
Time
The online course runs over 5 days with 4 hours per day.
The face-to-face version of the course runs over 3 days from 9:00 am to 17:00 (5:00 pm).
Course material
All participants get the comprehensive course material in pdf format.
There is no requirement for any specific textbook. If you want further reading, the two “Right The First Time” books (Volume 1 and Volume 2) by Lee Ritchey are very suitable.
These books are recommended for further reading and reference. The books are not included in the price. Get Volume 1 as a pdf for free simply by signing up for email updates right here on the site. Volume 2 can be purchased at the author’s website: www.speedingedge.com (or send an email and I will see what I can do).
Signal integrity topics
The following topics are covered in the course:
- Transmission Lines (how to calculate using 2D field solver, material constants, geometries, verifying)
- Reflections (under / overshoot, termination methods, net topologies, connectors, stubs)
- Crosstalk (understanding, terminology, how to calculate, simulation setups, measures to take)
- Differential signaling (LVDS, PCIe, high-speed serial buses, routing)
- Power sub-system design (decoupling, capacitor types, power planes, measurements)
- Ground bounce (estimating, simulating, understanding, package design impact)
- Noise Margin budget (losses in transmission lines, termination noise, process)
- Layout routing rule creation and usage
- PCB stack-up design and useful embedded PCB test features
Prerequisites
This signal integrity course assumes knowledge of digital design at the PCB level. No advanced math is required.
For our online courses, please make sure you have:
- Modern PC for both remote desktop and the video platform (Zoom)
- Decent quality camera (laptop built-in camera or better)
- Headset with microphone (important)
- Quiet location with no background noise
Please help the overall sound quality by keeping your microphone muted whenever you are not speaking.
Lab exercises
Practical exercises are done using the latest simulation tools from Cadence or Mentor Graphics.
Note: This course focuses on theory and understanding. It is not tool-specific training. The exercises are primarily designed to give participants a feel for the mechanisms as they are in real circuits.
Instructor
Rolf V. Ostergaard, M.Sc.EE. from EE-Training is the instructor. Rolf has worked with signal integrity in many different projects since working for 3Com in 1998 as a colleague to Lee Ritchey in Silicon Valley. While building a consulting business focused on advanced electronics and embedded software in Denmark, Rolf has been helping many companies with signal integrity and power integrity both as design, simulations, coaching, measurements, and troubleshooting. He started conducting training in SI around 2004 and has trained hundreds of engineers, which led to founding EE-Training to further expand this.
M.Sc.EE, SI Consultant