Critical roles of RF and microwave electromagnetic field solver simulators in multi-gigabit high-speed digital applications

With present digital signaling speeds in the mulit-gigabit range, the interconnects in printed circuit boards (PCB 's), IC packages, and even within silicon have become the limiting factors in the system performance. This makes electromagnetic (EM) field solvers essential for multi-gigabit hardware design. At the same time, these tools are often not well understood, which may create more problems for designers. This paper is intended to demonstrate not only why it is critical to utilize EM field solvers for high-speed digital applications, but also the importance of understanding the strengths and limitations of the various EM field solvers available today.