What does eye opening show?

  • Timing margin
  • Noise margin
  • Jitter
  • ISI (inter-symbol interference)

Good eye diagram means:

  • Large vertical opening → good noise margin
  • Large horizontal opening → good timing margin

Causes of bad eye

Common causes:

  • impedance mismatch
  • reflections
  • jitter
  • noise
  • attenuation
  • bad routing