How detrimental could a via be?

The vertical interconnects used in printed circuit boards, known as vias, are becoming increasingly critical to interconnect performance with ever increasing system data rates. To explore the effects of vias on system link performance, both simulations and measurements on test structures were implemented in a wide frequency range. The results indicate that proper via management is vital to the success of interconnect designs operating at multi-Gb/s data rates. © 2004 IEEE.