DDR5 DRAM design and test to feature at DesignCon 2020

As data centre throughput climbs, performance expectations of servers and high-performance computing drive the need for next-generation high-density ultra-fast memory, or DDR5 DRAM.  

Running at twice the data rate of DDR4 results in shrinking design margins and it becomes difficult for a hardware designer to optimize the printed circuit board (PCB) to minimise the effects of jitter, reflection and crosstalk.

Heavily distorted signals can be recovered with decision feedback equalisation (DFE), a new addition for DDR5 DRAM, which disrupts the traditional measurement and simulation approaches used for earlier generations of DDR.

Keysight's design and test workflow solution enables hardware engineers to meet their time-to-market window and deliver a high-performance, reliable end-product with: 

• New transmitter test methods to measure the signal eye diagram after equalisation.
• New loopback bit-error-rate (BER) receiver tests to validate device and system reliability.
• Logic analysis to debug complex DDR5 traffic transactions to identify the source of system instability.

Completing the solution is PathWave ADS Memory Designer for DDR5, a simulation environment that addresses the current challenges faced by designers with the following key features:

• Ability to predict performance, optimise a design and perform virtual transmitter compliance test, before realising the first hardware prototype.   
• Reduced simulation setup time from hours to minutes with new features such as DDR components, smart wires and an intelligent memory probe.
• Increased simulation accuracy for DDR5 by representing receiver equalisation with IBIS Algorithmic Modeling Interface (IBIS-AMI) models, enhanced specifically for the requirements of DDR.

"DDR5 is on the horizon, and to secure a competitive edge, organisations are designing their next generation products to take full advantage of it. However, designing for DDR5 will not be the step-and-repeat of earlier generations. The measurements needed to validate memory systems and the simulation technology needed to predict the performance of memory systems are evolving," stated Todd Cutler, vice president and general manager of design and test software at Keysight. "Keysight has the technical innovation, breadth of solution and depth of expertise to help our customers get to market faster with their first DDR5 product."