Signal Integrity Issues and Printed Circuit Board Design

Rating:
Summary: A chasm has been bridged...
Review: As an educator, lecturer and practicing designer I am given many books to read and make comment on. I find very few books that are able to bridge the chasm between the needs of a beginner learning about signal integrity and the needs of a professional desperate to solve design problems. This book is an excellent primer and reference for understanding the interrelationship between the board layout and the signal integrity problem. This book details design solutions to classic signal integrity problems and educates the novice in understanding the reasoning behind the solutions. There is a lot of nonsense being written about signal integrity and few people have the resources to filter out the chaff from hay. This book proves every principle presented with tested board layouts, demonstrated engineering principles, or documented laboratory results. Some people can see the world in formulas and some see the world pictorially. This book is rich in both forms of expressionism and its presentation will not exasperate the PCB designer who sees the world visually, or frustrate the engineer seeking equations for design representation. This book has been added to the required reading list for our PCB layout designers and product development engineering teams.

Rating:
Summary: Probably the most readable book you'll find on this
Review: Brook's book is exceptional in the clarity of the writing, esp. in explaining key concepts that most engineers are fuzzy on. This book is great at giving engineers an intuitive feel for basic electromagnetics and how it relates to signal integrity and emi.

It's main strength (and to some it's major weakness) is that it avoids the mess of equations of better known books like Johnson's "High-Speed Digital Design". Brooks is also a good writer, and he writes very clearly. Don't get this book, if you already understand the subject, since it doesn't cover advanced material. However, this is essential reading for those who don't have a clue or for those (like me), who've memorized a lot of emi guidelines, without really understanding why they're necessary.

Given the book's title, the only area of improvement I can think of is a chapter or appendix on basic pcb manufacturing and terminology (buried vias, microvias, antipads, etc).