StrongFirst® timing solution for Altera® FP GA Stratix® V, Arria ® V, Cyclone® V Transceiver PCI Express
PCI Express ® (PCIe®) is a high-speed serial transmission widely adopted in PC, server, FA equipment’s, measurement equipment’s, broadcast products etc. FPGAs provide PCIe® transceivers for these applications. StrongFirst oscillators have been confirm ed as reference clock functionality by actual e valuations.
1. Connect StrongFirst oscillator to Altera Arria® V PCIe® board as reference clock.
2. Measure PCIe® TX output with oscilloscope.
3. Calculate BER with oscilloscope’s Eye Diagram and RMS data.
PCIe® TX oscillator measurement result, PCIe® Transmission performance
Evaluation result of 3 oscillators (SOCL7050, SOCP7050 , Other). SOCL7050 has the best performance.
BER (bit error rate )
Calculated by RMS jitter
Oscillator (100M z Reference Clock)
Other oscillator
SOCL7050
SOCP7050
PCIe G en.1 (2.5 Gb ps)
1.2 x 10-20
1.3 x 10 -27
7.5 x 10 -31 (Best)
PCIe G en.2 (5 Gb ps)
7.9 x 10-08
4.5 x 10 -08
2.6 x 10 -08 (Best)
< PCIe® Gen.1 Data speed 2.5 Gbps>
RMS and Eye Pattern
Eye Diagram Jitter
RM S (Unit : ps)
Oscillator (100M Hz reference Clock)
SOCL7050
SOCP7050
Other oscillator
(2nd PLL CDR)
5.56
4.92
6.11
BER (bit error rate) calculated with RMS.
BER (bit error rate)
Capitulated by RMS jitter
Oscillator (100M Hz reference Clock)
SOCL7050
SOCP7050
Other oscillator
(2nd PLL CDR)
1.3 x 10 -27
7.5x 10-31
1.2 x 10 -20
The timing period to the first error occasion. (Unit: sec).
< PCIe® Gen.2 Data speed 5 Gbps >
RMS and Eye Pattern
Eye Diagram Jitter
RM S (Unit : ps)
Oscillator (100M Hz reference Clock)
SOCL7050
SOCP7050
Other oscillator
(2nd PLL CDR)
5.29
5.19
5.39
BER (bit error rate) calculated with RMS.
BER (bit error rate)
Capitulated by RMS jitter
Oscillator (100M Hz reference Clock)
SOCL7050
SOCP7050
Other oscillator
(2nd PLL CDR)
4.5 x10 -08
2.6x 10-08
7.9 x 10 -08
The timing period to the first error occasion. (Unit: sec).
PCI Express, and PCIe are the registered trade marks of PCI-SIG.
Altera, Stratix, Arria, and Cyclone are the registered trade marks of Altera Corporation
