This article describes the design flow for a high speed connector using several simulation tools. The goal is to enable its first pass design without time-intensive and costly iteration steps. In addition to other simulation tools, CST MICROWAVE STUDIO® (CST MWS) is used during various stages of the design process to find fundamental design parameters and to predict the behavior of a complete telecommunication system.

A new high speed multi-pin connector has to enable a data transmission rate of at least 10Gbit/s in a communication system (Figure 1), where two daughter cards are connected via a backplane. The connections should be point-to-point connections applying differential signal trace layout.