Recent trends in high-speed system interconnect
concentrates on reducing the pin count, increasing the
overall throughput and decreasing complexity and cost.
By moving to a lower pin count, higher frequency
interconnect, the above requirements can be achieved but
at the loss of the multi-point interconnect ability. To
obtain the high data throughput while reducing the pin
count or data bus width, the clock frequency must be
increased. Increasing the clock frequency makes the
channel more sensitive to the capacitive loading effects,
including reflections, as would be experienced by adding
multiple drop nodes on the interconnect. Typical highspeed
low-pin count interconnect designs tend to
incorporate point-to-point arrangements in response to
the adverse loading effects at the higher frequencies.