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IBIS INTERCONNECT MODELING AD HOC TASK GROUP MEETING MINUTES AND AGENDA

http://www.eda.org/ibis/adhoc/interconnect/

Mailing list: ibis-interconn@freelists.org

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Next Meeting
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
9 AM US Pacific Time

               Telephone     Bridge   Passcode
              916-356-2663     4      955-1010

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	Meeting ID: 5487d9dffc71468c913acbb89bd58984
	Entry Code: HzJa5W4nC24
	Location: meet:sip:michael.mirmak@intel.com;gruu;opaque=app:conf:focus:id:5487d9dffc71468c913acbb89bd58984%3Fconf-key=HzJa5W4nC24

Agenda:
- Call for patents
- Opens
- Mixed Mode Suggestions (Tao Su, Sigrity)

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Minutes from April 2:

Attendees:
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(* denotes present)
Agilent                    - Radek Biernacki*, John Moore, Ken Wong
Ansoft                     - Denis Soldo*
Cadence Design Systems     - Terry Jernberg*
Green Streak Programs      - Lynne Green
Hewlett-Packard            - Rob Elliott
Intel                      - Michael Mirmak*
Mentor Graphics Corp.      - John Angulo
Micron Technology          - Randy Wolff*
Sigrity                    - Sam Chitwood, Raymond Y. Chen, Tao Su
SiSoft                     - Walter Katz*
Teraspeed Consulting Group - Bob Ross*

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No patents were announced.   Bob Ross raised an open regarding deferral of
the Touchstone 2.0 specification draft now being considered by the IBIS 
Open Forum.  The team agreed that the vote should be postponed while
port ordering and mixed-mode treatments are under consideration.

The team continued discussions of the Touchstone 2.0 specification. 
Michael summarized his own proposal for including mixed-mode data in
Touchstone 2.0 files, as an optional extension of single-ended data.
The format is fairly restrictive, in that the order of the rows and
columns vs. DD, CD, CD, DC stimulus and response is fixed and that
only an even number of single-ended ports is supported.

Bob summarized several key options and issues:

A) Can a file contain mixed-mode data *only*, without single-ended?
B) For mixed-mode, lower and upper matrix reduction no longer applies;
perhaps these should be called symmetrical, asymmetrical and scattered.
C) Can noise parameters be kept at the very end of the file with mixed-mode?
D) Should noise parameters be offset using a keyword?
E) Does the reference impedance keyword now encounter an ordering constraint
with mixed-mode?
F) Should the mixing of mixed-mode and single-ended data be only considered
for Touchstone 3.0?
G) If not, how should the data be ordered?

Radek asked what any simulations using the file should be based on: single-ended
or mixed-mode?  Bob added the question regarding whether data should be complete if
the single-ended mapping is known.  Michael responded that the upside is having an extra
check, while the downside is the increased file size.  Radek suggested that a separate file
with a link be used to refer to mixed-mode data.

Bob suggested that asymmetrical representations be banned.  Radek added that the noise
parameters issue may be ignored, as the number of frequencies in the file and the ports
in the file are explicitly named.

Walter made several observations, particularly that mixed-mode data is not of interest
to some EDA users, so long as the single-ended data is present.  Port-ordering, however, is
a key requirement.  Bob added that port-ordering was still needed to get any mixed-mode
representation right.

Discussions will continue at the next meeting.

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Team Objectives:
1) complete ICM-IBIS linking BIRD and any associated changes to the 
   ICM specification
2) update the ICM specification, if needed, to clarify the mapping of 
   ICM nodes to S-parameter ports
3) complete a specification for "Touchstone Plus" or similar 
   industry-standard definition for Touchstone-like files, to include 
   complex impedance references, removal of limits on the maximum number
   of ports and per-port impedance references