PCB design glossary
Differential Pair
AKA: diff pair, differential pairs
Two traces routed together that carry equal-and-opposite signals — used for high-speed differential signaling.
Differential pairs (USB, HDMI, LVDS, Ethernet) carry a signal as two equal-and-opposite traces. The receiver looks at the difference between them, which makes the signal highly immune to common-mode noise.
Routing differential pairs requires matched lengths, controlled impedance (usually 90 Ω or 100 Ω), and careful trace spacing. Most EDA tools, including PCBEditor, have a dedicated differential-pair routing mode.
Designing a board that uses differential pair?
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