A serpentine guard trace located between two microstrip transmission lines reduced the peak far-end crosstalk voltage and the difference in propagation delay times between the even and odd mode signals by more than half of those of the no guard case, respectively, without the PCB area overhead. This reduction was achieved by increasing mutual capacitance without changing mutual inductance. IntroductionIn the parallel microstrip lines on printed circuit board (PCB), the electromagnetic coupling generates the far-end crosstalk and the difference in propagation delay times between the even and odd mode signals. By this effect, the eye opening is reduced at the high-speed signaling and the maximum data rate through the microstrip lines is limited.

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