Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet
Subject: Re: 10/100BaseT Impedance Mismatch
References:   <[email protected]>
JoeG  writes:

> Rich Seifert wrote:
> > In article ,
> >  JoeG  wrote:
> >
> >> I need to route the 4 pairs of TP ethernet wires from a
> >> 10/100BASE-T NIC card through 2 feet of board traces (approx 50
> >> ohms of impedance) back out to Cat5E (100 ohm impedance) cable.  Or
> >> do I need anything at all?
> >>
> >> Can I use matching magnetics on either side of the 50ohm traces to
> >> eliminate this disconuity?
> >>
> >>such as 1:.7 & 1:1.4?
> >>
> > Why not design your PC etch to be 100 ohms instead of 50? This is
> > quite simple to do; the impedance is a function of the trace width,
> > the spacing, and the dielectric constant of the board material. You
> > can adjust the trace spacing and/or width to achieve a 100 ohm
> > characteristic impedance. See any decent EE handbook for the
> > equations (or send me a private e-mail and I can dig them out for
> > you).
> > --
> > Rich Seifert              Networks and Communications Consulting
> >                           21885 Bear Creek Way
> > (408) 395-5700            Los Gatos, CA 95033
> > (408) 228-0803 FAX
> > Send replies to: usenet at richseifert dot com
> 
> 
> I wish I could Rich but the 2 feet of ~50ohm impedance is a given --
> I'm familiar with SI and trace impedances but this 2 feet of ~50ohms
> cannot be replaced. It's legacy design which would require $$ to
> replace.


If you have traces that have 50 ohm impedance in relation to circuit 
board ground, you can use two of them. Connect each of the two 
wires from the incoming Ethernet twisted pair wire to one of such 
50 ohms trace. This arrangement would give you 100 ohms differential 
impedance for the signal traveling on the wire pair, the same as the 
UTP cable has.  

There are applications where 100 ohms differential signal is 
trasnported over pair of 50 ohm coaxial cables instead of 
100 ohms twisted pair. It works. 



-- 
Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/)
Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at 
http://www.epanorama.net/