“Ground source” refers to a structure or connection or component that serves as ground or serves to ground an electrical signal. … more “Ground source” refers to a structure or connection or component that serves as ground or serves to ground an electrical signal.

“Ground plane” refers to an electrically conductive surface or plane, usually connected to electrical ground. In printed circuit boards, a ground plane is a large area of copper foil of a printed circuit board which is connected to the power supply ground terminal and serves as a return path for current from different components on the printed circuit board. In multilayer PCBs, a ground plane may be a separate layer covering the entire board. This serves to make circuit layout easier, allowing the designer to ground any component without having to run additional traces; component leads needing grounding are routed directly through a hole in the printed circuit board to the ground plane on another layer. The large area of copper also conducts the large return currents from many components without significant voltage drops, ensuring that the ground connection of all the components are at the same reference potential. (Search “ground plane” on Wikipedia.com Mar. 31, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.) … more “Ground plane” refers to an electrically conductive surface or plane, usually connected to electrical ground. In printed circuit boards, a ground plane is a large area of copper foil of a printed circuit board which is connected to the power supply ground terminal and serves as a return path for current from different components on the printed circuit board. In multilayer PCBs, a ground plane may be a separate layer covering the entire board. This serves to make circuit layout easier, allowing the designer to ground any component without having to run additional traces; component leads needing grounding are routed directly through a hole in the printed circuit board to the ground plane on another layer. The large area of copper also conducts the large return currents from many components without significant voltage drops, ensuring that the ground connection of all the components are at the same reference potential. (Search “ground plane” on Wikipedia.com Mar. 31, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.)

“Signal source” refers to a circuit, sub-circuit, electronic component, hardware, software, firmware, module, logic, device, or apparatus configured, programmed, designed, arranged, or engineered to supply a voltage, current, or electromagnetic wave that varies over time, either in analog or digital wave form, to another structure, circuit, sub-circuit, electronic component, logic, device, or apparatus. … more “Signal source” refers to a circuit, sub-circuit, electronic component, hardware, software, firmware, module, logic, device, or apparatus configured, programmed, designed, arranged, or engineered to supply a voltage, current, or electromagnetic wave that varies over time, either in analog or digital wave form, to another structure, circuit, sub-circuit, electronic component, logic, device, or apparatus.

“Transmission path” refers to an electrical signal that an electronic signal travels through a circuit or a portion of a circuit. A transmission path may include a variety of electrical components and may include one or more connections to a ground source, a signal source, and/or a power source. In certain embodiments, a transmission path may include a transmitter, a receiver, and one or more transmission lines. A transmission path may also be referred to as a ‘main line.’ … more “Transmission path” refers to an electrical signal that an electronic signal travels through a circuit or a portion of a circuit. A transmission path may include a variety of electrical components and may include one or more connections to a ground source, a signal source, and/or a power source. In certain embodiments, a transmission path may include a transmitter, a receiver, and one or more transmission lines. A transmission path may also be referred to as a ‘main line.’

“T-branch” refers to a structure within a multilayer printed circuit board, the T-branch connects to one or more signal traces to form a T shaped structure and is configured to route a signal up to a die stack mounted on top of the multilayer printed circuit board and to route a signal down to a die stack mounted on bottom of the multilayer printed circuit board. … more “T-branch” refers to a structure within a multilayer printed circuit board, the T-branch connects to one or more signal traces to form a T shaped structure and is configured to route a signal up to a die stack mounted on top of the multilayer printed circuit board and to route a signal down to a die stack mounted on bottom of the multilayer printed circuit board.

“Layer” refers to a planar set of material in a multilayer structure, such as a multilayer printed circuit board. … more “Layer” refers to a planar set of material in a multilayer structure, such as a multilayer printed circuit board.

“Multilayer printed circuit board” refers to a printed circuit board or “PCB” comprising a plurality of layers of conductive and non-conductive materials. The layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may be configured to provide one or more of mechanical structural support and/or electrically conductive structures such as signal traces. Non-conductive layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise insulation layers. Conductive layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise a patterned metal such as copper, aluminum, or the like. Patterned structures of a conductive layer may be coated and/or encased a non-conductive layer formed on top of the conductive layer. In certain embodiments, a lower most layer of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise a substrate. The number and type of layers of a multilayer printed circuit board may vary depending on the use case. In certain embodiments, the multilayer printed circuit board comprises 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 18 layers. In one embodiment, a multilayer printed circuit board comprises a lower ground plane layer positioned adjacent to the substrate and an upper ground plane layer positioned above one more intermediate layers that are adjacent to the lower ground plane layer. … more “Multilayer printed circuit board” refers to a printed circuit board or “PCB” comprising a plurality of layers of conductive and non-conductive materials. The layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may be configured to provide one or more of mechanical structural support and/or electrically conductive structures such as signal traces. Non-conductive layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise insulation layers. Conductive layers of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise a patterned metal such as copper, aluminum, or the like. Patterned structures of a conductive layer may be coated and/or encased a non-conductive layer formed on top of the conductive layer. In certain embodiments, a lower most layer of the multilayer printed circuit board may comprise a substrate. The number and type of layers of a multilayer printed circuit board may vary depending on the use case. In certain embodiments, the multilayer printed circuit board comprises 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, or 18 layers. In one embodiment, a multilayer printed circuit board comprises a lower ground plane layer positioned adjacent to the substrate and an upper ground plane layer positioned above one more intermediate layers that are adjacent to the lower ground plane layer.

“Printed circuit board” or “PCB” refers to a structure that mechanically supports and electrically connects electrical or electronic components using conductive tracks, traces, pads, and other features etched from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto and/or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. Components may be soldered onto the PCB to both electrically connect and mechanically fasten them to it. PCBs can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided (two copper layers on both sides of one substrate layer), or multi-layer (outer and inner layers of copper, alternating with layers of substrate). Multi-layer PCBs allow for higher component density, because circuit traces on the inner layers free up surface space between components. Multilayer PCBs may include two, three, four, or more copper planes (layers for traces). (Search “printed circuit board” on Wikipedia.com May 22, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.) … more “Printed circuit board” or “PCB” refers to a structure that mechanically supports and electrically connects electrical or electronic components using conductive tracks, traces, pads, and other features etched from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto and/or between sheet layers of a non-conductive substrate. Components may be soldered onto the PCB to both electrically connect and mechanically fasten them to it. PCBs can be single-sided (one copper layer), double-sided (two copper layers on both sides of one substrate layer), or multi-layer (outer and inner layers of copper, alternating with layers of substrate). Multi-layer PCBs allow for higher component density, because circuit traces on the inner layers free up surface space between components. Multilayer PCBs may include two, three, four, or more copper planes (layers for traces). (Search “printed circuit board” on Wikipedia.com May 22, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.)

“Transmission line” or “Electrical transmission line” refers to a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct alternating current, or oscillating signal or voltage at a radio frequency (about 20 kHz-300 GHz), or higher. The frequency of the signal is high enough that a wave nature of the signal is taken into account. Transmission lines are used for purposes such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas (they are then called feed lines or feeders), distributing cable television signals, trunk lines routing calls between telephone switching centers, computer network connections and high speed computer data buses. (Search “transmission line” and “radio frequency” on Wikipedia.com May 28, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.) … more “Transmission line” or “Electrical transmission line” refers to a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct alternating current, or oscillating signal or voltage at a radio frequency (about 20 kHz-300 GHz), or higher. The frequency of the signal is high enough that a wave nature of the signal is taken into account. Transmission lines are used for purposes such as connecting radio transmitters and receivers with their antennas (they are then called feed lines or feeders), distributing cable television signals, trunk lines routing calls between telephone switching centers, computer network connections and high speed computer data buses. (Search “transmission line” and “radio frequency” on Wikipedia.com May 28, 2020. Modified. Accessed Jun. 4, 2020.)

“Register” refers to a temporary storage location used to store an address, or a data value, used in a computing operation by a processor, circuit, or logic. Certain registers may be named based on a type of data the register normally stores such as an address register that stores addresses or a data register that stores data or an operand register that stores values used in a firmware instruction. A register may be implemented with logic gates, flip-flops, SRAM, or the like. … more “Register” refers to a temporary storage location used to store an address, or a data value, used in a computing operation by a processor, circuit, or logic. Certain registers may be named based on a type of data the register normally stores such as an address register that stores addresses or a data register that stores data or an operand register that stores values used in a firmware instruction. A register may be implemented with logic gates, flip-flops, SRAM, or the like.

"Power Supply refers to a source of electrical energy for one or more electrical circuits connected to the power supply. … more "Power Supply refers to a source of electrical energy for one or more electrical circuits connected to the power supply.

"Pulse" refers to an analog signal that rises quickly and then falls within a relatively short duration. In certain embodiments, a pulse may comprise a short voltage level increase that rises quickly to a peak level and then quickly falls. … more "Pulse" refers to an analog signal that rises quickly and then falls within a relatively short duration. In certain embodiments, a pulse may comprise a short voltage level increase that rises quickly to a peak level and then quickly falls.

"Stiffness" refers to the extent to which an object, structure, device, component, member, system, or assembly resists deformation in response to an applied force. It should be noted that the elastic modulus of a material is not the same as the stiffness of a component made from that material. Elastic modulus is a property of the constituent material; stiffness is a property of a structure or component of a structure, and hence stiffness is dependent upon various physical dimensions that describe that component. That is, the modulus is an intensive property of the material; stiffness, on the other hand, is an extensive property of the solid body, object, structure, device, component, member, system, or assembly that is dependent on the material and its shape and boundary conditions. (Search "stiffness" on Wikipedia.com May 11, 2022. CC-BY-SA 3.0 Accessed July 26, 2022. Modified.) … more "Stiffness" refers to the extent to which an object, structure, device, component, member, system, or assembly resists deformation in response to an applied force. It should be noted that the elastic modulus of a material is not the same as the stiffness of a component made from that material. Elastic modulus is a property of the constituent material; stiffness is a property of a structure or component of a structure, and hence stiffness is dependent upon various physical dimensions that describe that component. That is, the modulus is an intensive property of the material; stiffness, on the other hand, is an extensive property of the solid body, object, structure, device, component, member, system, or assembly that is dependent on the material and its shape and boundary conditions. (Search "stiffness" on Wikipedia.com May 11, 2022. CC-BY-SA 3.0 Accessed July 26, 2022. Modified.)

“Strobe signal” refers to a digital electric signal applied to a control line by a driver and configured to raise a voltage and/or current of the control line. In certain embodiments, a strobe signal is configured to oscillate between an elevated level and a non-elevated level, and the oscillation occurs over a regular period defined as cycles. Such oscillating strobe signals may serve as a clock, or clock signal, for transferring data in a digital circuit. … more “Strobe signal” refers to a digital electric signal applied to a control line by a driver and configured to raise a voltage and/or current of the control line. In certain embodiments, a strobe signal is configured to oscillate between an elevated level and a non-elevated level, and the oscillation occurs over a regular period defined as cycles. Such oscillating strobe signals may serve as a clock, or clock signal, for transferring data in a digital circuit.

“Control line” refers to a structure, circuit, circuitry, and/or associated logic configured to convey an electrical current and/or voltage from a source to a destination. In certain embodiments, analog voltages, currents, biases, and/or digital signals supplied or discharged over a control line are used to control switches, select gates, and/or other electrical components. Certain control lines may have a specific name based on what parts of a circuit the control line controls or where the control line couples, or connects, to other circuits. Examples of named control lines include word lines, bit lines, source control lines, drain control lines, and the like. Control line may convey strictly data signals, strictly command or control signal, and/or a combination of both. … more “Control line” refers to a structure, circuit, circuitry, and/or associated logic configured to convey an electrical current and/or voltage from a source to a destination. In certain embodiments, analog voltages, currents, biases, and/or digital signals supplied or discharged over a control line are used to control switches, select gates, and/or other electrical components. Certain control lines may have a specific name based on what parts of a circuit the control line controls or where the control line couples, or connects, to other circuits. Examples of named control lines include word lines, bit lines, source control lines, drain control lines, and the like. Control line may convey strictly data signals, strictly command or control signal, and/or a combination of both.

“Control bus” refers to a communication bus used to exchange one or more of data, address information, control signals, clock signals, and the like, between two electronic circuits, components, chips, die, and/or systems. Typically, a control bus sends control signals to one or more memory die to manage operations on the memory die. In certain embodiments, the control bus sends control signals such as write enable (“WE” or “WE#”), chip enable (“CE” or “CE#”), read enable (“RE” or “RE#”), a clock signal, strobe signal (“DQS”), command latch enable (“CLE”), address latch enable (“ALE”), storage operation commands in the form of operation codes (“OP” codes) and addressing information for a communicated storage operation. In certain embodiments, the control bus may not transfer data relating to a storage operation, such as write data or read data. Instead, write data and read data may be transferred over a data bus … more “Control bus” refers to a communication bus used to exchange one or more of data, address information, control signals, clock signals, and the like, between two electronic circuits, components, chips, die, and/or systems. Typically, a control bus sends control signals to one or more memory die to manage operations on the memory die. In certain embodiments, the control bus sends control signals such as write enable (“WE” or “WE#”), chip enable (“CE” or “CE#”), read enable (“RE” or “RE#”), a clock signal, strobe signal (“DQS”), command latch enable (“CLE”), address latch enable (“ALE”), storage operation commands in the form of operation codes (“OP” codes) and addressing information for a communicated storage operation. In certain embodiments, the control bus may not transfer data relating to a storage operation, such as write data or read data. Instead, write data and read data may be transferred over a data bus

“Data bus” refers to a communication bus used to exchange one or more of data bits between two electronic circuits, components, chips, die, and/or systems. A data bus may include one or more signal lines. A sender, such as a controller, may send data signals over one or more control lines of the data bus in parallel or in series. Examples data buses may include 8-bit buses having 8 control lines (also called data lines, if they only carry data signals), 16-bit buses having 16 control lines, 32-bit buses having 32 control lines, 64-bit buses having 64 control lines, and the like. In one embodiment, a single data bus may be shared by a plurality of components, such as memory die. When multiple chips or memory die share a data bus, that data may be accessed or transferred by a single memory die or by all the memory die in parallel based on signals on a chip enable control line. A data bus may operate, and be configured, according to an industry standard or based on a proprietary protocol and design. Multiple control line of a data bus may be used in parallel and may latch data into latches of a destination component according to a clocking signal, data strobe signal (“DQS”), or clock, such as strobe signal. … more “Data bus” refers to a communication bus used to exchange one or more of data bits between two electronic circuits, components, chips, die, and/or systems. A data bus may include one or more signal lines. A sender, such as a controller, may send data signals over one or more control lines of the data bus in parallel or in series. Examples data buses may include 8-bit buses having 8 control lines (also called data lines, if they only carry data signals), 16-bit buses having 16 control lines, 32-bit buses having 32 control lines, 64-bit buses having 64 control lines, and the like. In one embodiment, a single data bus may be shared by a plurality of components, such as memory die. When multiple chips or memory die share a data bus, that data may be accessed or transferred by a single memory die or by all the memory die in parallel based on signals on a chip enable control line. A data bus may operate, and be configured, according to an industry standard or based on a proprietary protocol and design. Multiple control line of a data bus may be used in parallel and may latch data into latches of a destination component according to a clocking signal, data strobe signal (“DQS”), or clock, such as strobe signal.

“Die controller” refers to a set of circuits, circuitry, logic, or components configured to manage the operation of a die. In one embodiment, the die controller is an integrated circuit. In another embodiment, the die controller is a combination of discrete components. In another embodiment, the die controller is a combination of one or more integrated circuits and one or more discrete components. … more “Die controller” refers to a set of circuits, circuitry, logic, or components configured to manage the operation of a die. In one embodiment, the die controller is an integrated circuit. In another embodiment, the die controller is a combination of discrete components. In another embodiment, the die controller is a combination of one or more integrated circuits and one or more discrete components.

“Process, Voltage, and Temperature (PVT) spread” refers to process variations, voltage level differences, and temperature differences between two fabricated semiconductor devices, or variations that may be experienced by the same device under different operating conditions. PVT spread refers to a measure of how much one electronic component is influenced by PVT variations in relation to how much another electronic component is influenced by PVT variations. PVT spread refers to the differences in relation to one or more of process variation, voltage variations, and/or temperature variations. Process spread may occur due to differences in the manufacturing process from one wafer to another, or even from one die to another. The semiconductor manufacturing process is rigorously constrained for uniformity, but even minute differences in concentrations of a dopant, minute incursions of impurities, etc., may cause noticeable inconsistencies in the behavior of finished components. Temperature spread may occur due to both the difference in temperature effects in the circuitry at higher or lower die temperatures or when operating at different ambient temperatures. Voltage spread may occur due to different circuit behaviors at high or low voltages, when exposed to voltage fluctuations over time, etc. All of these effects may cause a component meeting the same theoretical design parameters to behave differently from similar parts, or differently in one scenario than in another. … more “Process, Voltage, and Temperature (PVT) spread” refers to process variations, voltage level differences, and temperature differences between two fabricated semiconductor devices, or variations that may be experienced by the same device under different operating conditions. PVT spread refers to a measure of how much one electronic component is influenced by PVT variations in relation to how much another electronic component is influenced by PVT variations. PVT spread refers to the differences in relation to one or more of process variation, voltage variations, and/or temperature variations. Process spread may occur due to differences in the manufacturing process from one wafer to another, or even from one die to another. The semiconductor manufacturing process is rigorously constrained for uniformity, but even minute differences in concentrations of a dopant, minute incursions of impurities, etc., may cause noticeable inconsistencies in the behavior of finished components. Temperature spread may occur due to both the difference in temperature effects in the circuitry at higher or lower die temperatures or when operating at different ambient temperatures. Voltage spread may occur due to different circuit behaviors at high or low voltages, when exposed to voltage fluctuations over time, etc. All of these effects may cause a component meeting the same theoretical design parameters to behave differently from similar parts, or differently in one scenario than in another.

“Time constant” refers to a constant value used in a circuit that includes a resistor and a capacitor connected in series, either in a charging configuration with a voltage or potential source or in a discharging configuration with a ground source or load discharging the capacitor. A time constant is a value in seconds equal to a resistance for the resistor multiplied by a capacitance for the capacitor. A time constant may be represented by the Greek letter Tau. If a target time constant is known, then an amount of resistance and/or an amount of capacitance for the resistor and capacitor may be adjusted to satisfy other design criteria for a circuit. … more “Time constant” refers to a constant value used in a circuit that includes a resistor and a capacitor connected in series, either in a charging configuration with a voltage or potential source or in a discharging configuration with a ground source or load discharging the capacitor. A time constant is a value in seconds equal to a resistance for the resistor multiplied by a capacitance for the capacitor. A time constant may be represented by the Greek letter Tau. If a target time constant is known, then an amount of resistance and/or an amount of capacitance for the resistor and capacitor may be adjusted to satisfy other design criteria for a circuit.