Partnership delivers all-in-one PCIe Gen5 test system

PCI Express continues to be a leading high-speed serial computer interface, with the latest 5.0 Base specification offering a total bandwidth of 128 GB/s. This will be followed by PCI Express 6.0 at 256 GB/s in 2021. To meet the new testing requirements, Anritsu Corp. and Tektronix, Inc. have collaborated on an automated PCI Express 5.0 (PCIe Gen5) test solution that leverages Anritsu’s Signal Quality Analyzer-R MP1900A bit error rate tester (BERT) series and Tektronix’s DPO70000SX 70-GHz real-time oscilloscope series and automation software.

The all-in-one solution supports tests of PCIe 5.0 electrical characteristics, physical-layer protocol analysis, and transmitter/receiver and link equalization training (LEQ) tests to accelerate the development of high-speed ICs, devices, and networks used in emerging environments, including 5G. It also features automated transmitter test, receiver jitter tolerance test, and Tx/Rx LEQ compliance test items.

The complete tester incorporates waveform-calibration automation software with analysis functionality using event trigger and high-speed calibration between the MP1900A BERT and DPO70000SX oscilloscope to reduce test times, said Anritsu..

Anritsu noted that the cost of test is lower because the solution supports PCIe 1.0-5.0 without a hardware upgrade and can upgrade to PCIe 6.0 test capability with a minimum hardware investment.

Fully automated PCIe 5.0 calibration and compliance test system (Image: Anritsu)

The Signal Quality Analyzer-R MP1900A series is a multi-channel BERT for designing and testing next-generation network interfaces, such as 200G/400G/800G Ethernet, as well as high-speed bus interfaces, including PCI Express 4.0/5.0, USB 3.2, USB 4, and Thunderbolt. Key features include a built-in pulse pattern generator (PPG) that produces high-quality waveforms (115 fs low intrinsic jitter) and high-sensitivity (15 mV) error detector (ED). A jitter (SJ, RJ, SSC, BUJ) generation source and CM-I/DM-I/white-noise generation source are also included. Link training and link training status state machine (LTSSM) analysis functions support various applications, including compliance tests, margin tests, and troubleshooting, said the company.

In addition to functionality for evaluating PAM4 of optical modules, SERDES, and other technologies used by data-center 200G/400G/800G Ethernet systems, the MP1900A BERT also evaluates PCIe 6.0 (PAM4 32 Gbaud) devices under development to ensure compliance with the latest PCI-SIG standard, said Anritsu.

The Tektronix DPO70000SX series oscilloscope is linked with the Anritsu Signal Quality Analyzer-R MP1900A BERT as an automated PCIe Gen5 (32 GT/s) Base & CEM transceiver solution. The new Tektronix receiver test automation software uses an optimization algorithm to correct 32 GT/s and 16 GT/s stressed-eye waveforms to shorten test times using the SigTest Phoenix test tool and fast parallel processing. It supports multiple form factors (M.2 and U.2) and clocking architectures (CC, SRNS, SRIS) along with A/D range optimization and low-noise PCIe Gen5 Base specification 32 GT/s uncorrelated jitter and pulse-width jitter measurements. Tektronix introduced the high-performance DPO70000SX series several years ago to support serial bus standards.