9.2.2.2 Interconnecting Media

The physical communication channel between the LVDS driver and the LVDS receiver may be any balanced and paired metal conductors meeting the requirements of the LVDS standard, the key points of which are included here. This media may be shielded twisted-pair cables, twinax cables, flat ribbon cables, or PCB traces. The nominal characteristic impedance of the interconnect media should be between 100 Ω and 120 Ω with a variation of no more than 10% (90 Ω to 132 Ω). Balanced cables (for example, twisted-pair) are usually better than unbalanced cables (like ribbon and simple coax cables) for noise reduction and signal quality. Balanced cables tend to generate less EMI due to field-canceling effects and also tend to pick up electromagnetic radiation a common-mode (not differential mode) noise which is rejected by the receiver. There should not introduce major impedance discontinuities in the system.