Differential Pairs & EMI: What Hardware Teams Must Know to Avoid SI/EMC Failures

What You’ll Learn

Differential pairs carry high-speed signals, but their real-world behaviour is often misunderstood.
This masterclass gives hardware designers a clear, engineering-level understanding of how differential pairs behave from an SI and EMI perspective — so you can design cleaner, more compliant systems.

Led by Zachariah Peterson, a globally recognised PCB design educator and SI/EMI consultant, this session will cover:

✅ Why Differential Pairs Exist (Beyond “Noise Cancellation”)
Learn the actual electrical purpose of differential signalling, how return currents flow, and why it matters for EMC.

✅ Length & Delay Tuning, When It's Necessary and When It’s Understand skew, propagation mismatch, and the interfaces where tuning is performance-critical vs. where it creates more problems than it solves.

✅ Mode Conversion & Its Direct Link to EMI
See how routing, asymmetry, reference-plane changes, and components convert differential energy into common-mode emissions, the #1 source of radiated EMI in high-speed links.

✅ Compliance Is More Than RED & EMC Testing
Discover why safety, environmental, and risk-analysis requirements are just as critical and often overlooked.

✅ When Differential Pairs Can Be Routed Without a Ground Plane
A myth-busting explanation of when a continuous reference plane is required and when field coupling allows for groundless routing.

✅ Filters, Chokes & Terminations on Differential Interconnects
Practical guidance on using common-mode chokes, AC coupling caps, connector transitions, and termination strategies without introducing unintended resonances or emissions.

Ideal For

• Hardware Engineers & Teams: Needing clear, physics-backed rules for routing high-speed differential pairs that pass EMC testing.

• Engineering Managers: Wanting to reduce redesign cycles and mitigate PCB-level EMI risks early in the project.

• Product & Startup Teams: Bringing new high-speed electronics to market with limited SI/EMI expertise.

Stop Guessing. Start Designing Differential Pairs With Confidence.

Join this masterclass to understand how differential pairs actually behave and how to design them for reliable high-speed performance and EMC compliance.