Dennis Miller, Senior Signal Integrity Engineer, Servers, Intel
Michael Brownell, Senior Package and Socket Pathfinding Engineer, Intel
John Lynch, Connector Technologist, Intel

Computer systems are experiencing a significant increase in data rates as bandwidth struggles to keep up with CPU computation capability. Early and accurate signal integrity models of the system are needed to ensure timely and cost-effective system designs. Connectors provide critical linkages between different parts of the system, and they are a key piece of any system-level signal integrity analysis. This paper describes the types of connector electrical models, their typical characteristics, and the advantages and disadvantages of each model in terms of their usefulness in system-level simulations.