Why are conductors made in the form of a “snake” on boards?

If you look at complex electronic boards, such as the motherboard, you can see printed conductors running in pairs in parallel. In addition, some of them can be laid in a “snake” pattern, which looks unusual against the backdrop of straight paths. All this was done for a reason.

Differential pair

Parallel conductors are called a differential pair. One of them sends a direct signal, and the second an inverse one. Such transmission reduces the generation of interference, thereby increasing the speed of data transfer.

Why are there “snakes” on the board?

When transmitting direct and inverse signals, it is important that they arrive at the connected chip at the same time. But since they are brought to different places, the path length on one of the conductors may be shorter. In this case, it is extended by laying it with a snake. As a result, the high-frequency signal passing through it arrives at the same time as along the second long direct path.

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