Described is a system and method of designing a length of an electrical
trace used to implement a point-to-point serial link for conveying a
digital signal between a transmitter and a receiver. A trace segment of
the electrical trace is identified. The trace segment has a first
endpoint determined by a first impedance discontinuity on the
point-to-point serial link and a second endpoint determined by a second
impedance discontinuity on the point-to-point serial link. A restricted
length is calculated for the trace segment based on a propagation delay
of the signal along the trace segment and a frequency of the signal. A
length of the trace segment is set to be unequal to the restricted
length.