PCI ExpressTM Architecture
Add-in Card Compliance Checklist for the PCI Express Base 1.0a SpecificationThe PCI Special Interest Group disclaims all warranties and liability for the use of this document and the information contained herein and assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear in this document, nor does the PCI Special Interest Group make a commitment to update the information contained herein.Contact the PCI Special Interest Group office to obtain the latest revision of this checklistQuestions regarding the ths document or membership in the PCI Special Interest Group may be forwarded tPCI Special Interest Group5440 SW Westgate Drive #217Portland, OR 97221Phone: 503-291-2569Fax: 503-297-1090 DISCLAIMERThis document is provided "as is" with no warranties whatsoever, including any warranty of merchantability, noninfringement, fitness for any particular purpose, or any warranty otherwise arising out of any proposal, specification, or sample. The PCI SIG disclaims all liability for infringement of proprietary rights, relating to use of information in this specification. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted herein.
This document provides practical, common guidelines for incorporating PCI Express interconnect
layouts onto Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) ranging from 4-layer desktop baseboard designs to 10-
layer or more server baseboard designs. Guidelines and constraints in this document are intended
for use on both baseboard and add-in card PCB designs. This includes interconnects between PCI
Express devices located on the same baseboard (chip-to-chip routing) and interconnects between
a PCI Express device located “down” on the baseboard and a device located “up” on an add-in
card attached through a connector.
This document is intended to cover all major components of the physical interconnect including
design guidelines for the PCB traces, vias and AC coupling capacitors, as well as add-in card
edge-finger and connector considerations. The intent of the guidelines and examples is to help
ensure that good high-speed signal design practices are used and that the timing/jitter and
loss/attenuation budgets can also be met from end-to-end across the PCI Express interconnect.
However, while general physical guidelines and suggestions are given, they may not necessarily
guarantee adequate performance of the interconnect for all layouts and implementations.
Therefore, designers should consider modeling and simulation of the interconnect in order to
ensure compliance to all applicable specifications.
The document is composed of two main sections. The first section provides an overview of
general topology and interconnect guidelines. The second section concentrates on physical layout
constraints where bulleted items at the beginning of a topic highlight important constraints, while
the narrative that follows offers additional insight.
