A practical method for modeling PCB transmission lines with conductor surface roughness and wideband dielectric properties

This paper discusses the modeling techniques to account for transmission line high frequency effects, and proposes a method to integrate these techniques into a practical and design-worthy model generation flow. The frequency tabulated transmission line models are capable of predicting wideband dielectric characteristics and high frequency conductor losses due to skin effect and surface roughness. They can be used to accurately model high volume, low cost printed circuit board traces which often have roughened trace surfaces and pronounced frequency variation in dielectric properties. The model accuracy is verified up to 20 GHz in frequency domain, thus suitable for Multi-Gigabit signaling analysis.