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Summary-The transmission of digital signals plays an impor- To insure reliable operations in a densely packaged
tant role in high speed computers, not only because the traveling time computer, a certain form of shielding is necessary to
on the connecting wire is a significant portion of the total delay, but eliminate or to reduce the crosstalk. The shielding of
also because the wire is a distributed parameter coupling network .
which, as a transmission line, becomes an integral part of the com- wiring introduces the proximity of the ground and
puter circuitry and affects the over-all performance. therefore decreases the characteristic impedance. In
The classical theories of transmission lines are applied to study order to send signals via those cables, the logic building
the signal waveforms. In the case of low input impedance loads, the blocks should have a large output current to drive the
radial (or parallel) transmission line scheme should be used. A gt
mathematic relationship can be derived among the ramp slope of
signals, the input current to the loads, the length and the impedance
rativl l pedac e tr i line n an
ultra high speed computer the logic element should
of the lines, and the terminations. Then the reflections can be pre- preferably be a line driver powerful enough to feed the
dicted. Guided by this, one chooses the optimum line impedance, line as well as the loads.
the maximum length and the proper termination.
For high input impedance loads, the tapped transmission line II. DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS OF BASIC LOGIC BLOCKS
scheme can be used. The multiple junction reflections are expressed Contrary to low speed circuits, the interconnection
in terms of a series which can be worked out by hand or by machine
computation. Likewise, there is a relationship among the impedance should be studied first, before the basic logic blocks
of the tapped lines and the feeding line, the spacing of loads and the are designed. The connecting cable is a distributed
terminations. There are rules to be followed to decide the transmis- parameter coupling network and becomes an integral
sion scheme.
part of the computer circuitry. In other words, the
whole machine is one gigantic circuit with a high degree
I. INTRODUCTION of complexity.
NTIL RECENTLY, the interconnection prob- The matching of transmission lines calls for careful
lem in digital computers did not receive much consideration. Any mismatching causes reflections
attention. As the speed and size go up, the means which impair the pulse waveforms. As a result, the
of interconnecting calls for careful planning. On the repetition rate has to be reduced or else erroneous logic
mechanical side, consideration should be given to operations would be introduced. To maintain a good
accessibility, size and weight, and reliability as well as over-all performance of the computer, the reflections
module replaceability. On the electrical side, one should should be reduced below tolerable limits.
be aware of the magnitude of crosstalk and the neces- The proper terminations are required to match the
sity of impedance matching. This paper will endeavor lines. The current demand on the driver therefore in-
to serve as a guide for planning the interconnecting creases. A driver with high output current usually is
scheme for the electrical viewpoint, as a result of signal implemented by a large input current. Such a large
transmission analysis. input current drive can be supplied by either a power-
For high speed computation, the circuit delay should ful preceding stage or by an internal current amplifier.
be short. To send more information per unit time, it is The former case represents a low input impedance and
essential for signal pulses to have a sharp rise and fall the latter a high input impedance. These impedances
time in order to achieve a high repetition rate. Within act as loads to the transmission lines.
the maze of interconnecting wiring, a fast switching Due to the presence of reactive components, the in-
circuit creates noises in neighboring circuits due to put current may have a higher transient magnitude
electromagnetic and electrostatic coupling. The cross- than the steady state. This high level transient current
talk induced depends on the transmitting voltage and makes it hard to match the transmission line. One
current, speed of switching and geometry of wire rout- should use a current amplifier, such as an emitter
ing. The last item is extremely difficult to predict. follower, at the input to reduce the driving current, in
Therefore, no attempt will be made here to evaluate its transient as well as its steady state.
the crosstalk. Because the interconnection scheme and the design
of basic logic blocks influence each other, the discussion
* Received 1March 18,
t Electronic Data Processing Division, RCA, Camden, N. J.
16.will now be conducted according to the types of logic
block input impedance.
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1963 Yao: Signal Transmission in Ultra High Speed Digital Conmputers 373
RS R ~~~~~~ZL
T E-
Fig. 1. Radial transmission line scheme. I
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374 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS August
At A
Va(p) = [LVo(t)][(1 + rL)e-P(11)
+ rLr8'(1 + rL)e-P(31I + *** (1)
At B
Vb(P) = [LVo(t)] [f + rL(1 + r.')e-P(111)
+ rz'r.'(1 + r')e-P(41/) + 1- (2)
At C
Vc(p) = [LVo()] [e-P(1l) + (n - 1) TorLe-(3111) RECEIVING END
(Gate driven by other signals)
+I (n - 1) TorL2r/te-'(511l + ***], (3)
where u = traveling speed of wave, andd
Vo(t) =
n
I = E
Assume that the voltage drop from the collector to Horizontal Scale 10 ns/Div.
the emitter is negligible. Also, the collector capacitance Fig. 3-Waveforms of radial transmission schemie at 10 Mc.
as well as the attenuation are ignored here. With all
the parameters known, the voltage waveforms at any
point can be translated into time domain and plotted. The resultant rise time of (5) is'
For the viewpoint of signal propagation, the voltage 2 2 2
waveform at point C is of great interest. The rise time /j(/r)2 + (6)
is the same as that of the driver if the line is matched, /VC
but the fall time deteriorates due to reflections. The By assigning the resultant fall time of the waveform
d
overshoot during switching on would affect the repeti- '_desired a
at the load, the reflection factor rL can be found
tion rate if the line is too long, and the slow fall time of when the maximum length of line, and the rise and fall
switching off will definitely increase the delay time time of the driver circuit are known. Then, R and Z0
and the switching time of the load. The waveform at can be selected accordingly.
C during switching off after one trip can be written as If t.is made long, the repetition rate has to be lowered.
follows: On the other hand, a short tf can be achieved only by
Vc(t) = E n 1 R R Zo e-Clt (4) small reflection factors or by the reduction of allowable
cable length. The small reflection factors mean small
where fan-out (n), or low line impedance (Zo) and small ter-
1 1 minating resistor (R), or both. A compromise should be
C, =-In * (See Appendix I.) worked out with all those points taken into considera-
2T rLr,' tion. The following is a numerical example:
Assume that the output impedance during switching Rise and fall time of the driver are 5 ns, respectively.
is very high (which is true in case of transistors) and The load requires 14-ma input with a 3 v swing. We have
the rise time is tr, then (4) can be approximated as ZL = 214 Q
follows:
Vc(/) b=- 2. 2 X 10-9s.
b n-1I R-ZO
=E e-bf _ (e-clt - ebt) .(5)
b- b !il R ] G. E. Valley and Henry Walliman, Eds., 'VaWtcum Tube Ampli-
tiers," MNcGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N. Y., p. 77 and p.
(See Appendix II.) 66; 1948.
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1963 Yao: Signal Transmission in Ultra High Speed Digital Computers 375
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376 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS August
If we choose R to be 360 ohlmis for the samne case in An emitter follower demand(ls a negligible base cur-
order to save some driving current, theni the results are rent in a steady state. Ilowever, it needs a transient
shown in Figs. 6 and 7 operating at 10 anid 25 Mlc, input current to charge the transitioni and diffusion
respectively. capacitances for switching required output current.
This input impedance behaves like an RC network. The
IV. TIHE HIGH INPtTT IMPEDANCE AND TAPPED resistance is very high, so it canl be igniored. Theoreti-
TRANSAIISSION LINE SCHEIME cally, this capacitance is nonlinear. Based on the imeas-
The radial transmission line scheme makes the wir- tirement, however, it can be satisfactorily approxi-
ing quite bulky. In order to use the tapped line method, mated by a linear capacitor.
the input circuitry of low impedance should be con- The loads are tapped along the line. As the wave
verted into a current amplifier such as an emitter front travels on the line, it encounters a mismatch at
follower. every junction. The reflection factors and the trans-
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1963 Yao: Signal Transmission in Ultra High Speed Digital Computers 377
Rst T Z°LOAD p 0
I di -SPACING
FOR THE WORST CASE ¢, = d2 d3
MIN ALLOWABLE SPACING
TO T02~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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378 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS August
other hand, the r, stays the same after the transistor is an E -tn_1 (n -)tn-2
turned off. The reflections last longer and so the wave- L-'[V(p)To] - e
tL - a2
form when turning off is worse than when turning on.
We shall, therefore, investigate the waveform devel- (n - 1)(n - 2)t,3 1
oped upon turning off in relation to the interconnecting + 3 + j
scheme.
Notice that the r8 can be made zero if a resistor equal (n-i)!]
to the characteristic impedance of the line is placed n-1
at the sending end. One then obtains the following
equations: -e-a (r
t_ _ - -l
V8(p) = I/(p) { 1 + r[e-2DP + (To2e-2dp ± To4e-41pb -a (b-a)2
+ To6e66dP)e-2Dp] } (9) + e bt F(-l),& 1a 1)
(-
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---
Z
/i
X /k
T
10.
12.
12.
11.
1_.
LOAD
~
REFLECTIONS
aeoma
~~
~
IZ =25a
RISE
T|l 7.Wort-CaseRflcionv.^LadScing
SPACING
_______ W-InRh
Load Spacing
~~~9-InchILoa nspcn
Waveform
/~~~~~LA SPCN
~~~~RISE TIME
~~~~~~~~2
* 1----
0 :25aQ{j
~~~~~~Z
Z~~~~~~~~~~~
MIN,~
s-I
~~~~RISE
3t
TlME:Sns
4ca S5acn
~
~
TIME
Fis
~
~
/ 8 ~ ~ v
Load
Ins
~
3" ~ ~~ ~
~ ~
'
~
ns
~
|
(Z = DP'is
I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~t Ins[z
~
forIN
isv
~ ~~
AXREFLECTION 8.5%
~
~
~
MAX 9EFLECTION
T~ZRE
3
<
2
llllll|
ns
_
|
~
~
~
6.MAREFLECTION
FLEC
MA
/~~
na i Ris
%
Ti
3jNns
II
|
~
8%
TION E%|
1
~
3
~
~
~
0
~
Tins,
Time,
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~NLOAD SPPACING3
~
~
~
20
-1
30
~
Z-200
0
O
1~
%r
_
3S
~
~
1||5=
16
15.
~ ~
3m
~
~
A~ ~ ~ RFLCTO
<
~~~~~~MN.LADSACN
t
5
16.
Wrt-aeRelciosv
_ _
_____200
L
Wos-Cs Reletin
3ns Inu Ris Time
-
z|
3
sI
7
Z
.
s
Lzo25
MIN
ieTm
:0
LOA
6MNLA
SAINGn
vs
:n
Mi
WnLadSain
|
f_
r
________
Spcnio
Loa
9
o
d~~~~~~~~~~~
PCN
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is -
-t t ----------"- _
ZR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~,
*,
5~~~~~~~~~~~~C"7
Zo. 50
Z-"25
O ~~ ~
~~3"6"9
MEN LOAD SPACING
19 W-rst-Cse RPflec-tions vs Mi Load Spa-ing for
_
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It Io
Io
az ~ z
5
-- *Z75
2 6"
-4" l 9" ,
4"0
4 6
3 4
5 ~
~ ~ ~MIN ~
LO.D SPACING ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ DIE 3 5 9 ) n
20. Wcrat-Coso ROflr-t:n-, vs Mi. Load sparing for 2 6 6 6
20ns 1nprt Rise Ti-r
l4 LOADS
I_
_zO.,oo Fig. 23-Waveforms of tapped transmission line
,o"0 . . , _scheme at 25 Mc for case A.
EL F, St.
z~~~~~~~~~~
=------- t 1
! _____ zo . °t
___._
_ __ _ Z. ______ __ _ __
Zo. 00
_2. W.-iot-Ca.s_
10nto Int,at
RI lEirtins vs Mis L
Rlov r :cvf
spa,-ng for
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1963 Yao: Signal Transmission in Ultra High Speed Digital Computers 381
V. CONCLUSIONS R + (n - l)Zo
For ultra high speed computers with pulse repetition nR
rates of 10 Mc and above, the interconnecting method nR R-(n 1)Zo R + (n-l)Zo
has a dominant role in the basic logic circuit design as = k
well as the packaging. A radial transmission line scheme L nR nR
should be used if the input impedances of circuits are 2(n - 1) R-Z0o
low, e.g., for diode gating. However, in order to tap the R-[-Zo]
loads onto the line in a way similar to the conven-
tional method used in low speed machines, the high - 1 R-Zo
input impedances are mandatory. For a radial line n R
scheme, (6) is used; for a tapped line scheme, the basic
equations are (9) and (10), or (7) and (8). i
The emitter follower provides a high input impedance. R + (n - 1)Zo
However, one should beware of unwanted oscillations. Vc(t) =+
[ 1 R__+____
E
The use of a receiving end resistor is indispensable. The
sending end resistor might be eliminated, but more re- = F E 1 R___ -Z° r,' 2rL. =
To =1+ r, r =rS+(n-2)To=
n-2~~~~~~~~~~~
.E-E(1-ke-Ct). =
n
For a ramp input, we have
Let
Vc() =E- F[l - ke-clt]*[be-bt]
2n - 2
=o' (n -
1)(T=1F Ef(t ke-cit)be-b(t-1)dr
-
-
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382 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRONIC COMPUTERS August
APPENDIX I I I APPENDIX IV
THE DERIVATION OF (12) I HE DERIVATION OF (13)
VrTon = EL-' L
-b
b ] VTo" = EL- FLp(p baaon
+-b) (pA+ a)nl
n!b b-a
Lb -(b- a)2 - a-at -__ - - 1)n
1)ttL (n
Li-a (b -ea)2
n-__n
nbE i-a) n*n1 a7_)tfl3A-]
- ebt [(1) j}. A- ebn [(1)(n 2L]4.
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