An Energy-Efficient Equalized Transceiver for RC-Dominant Channels

This work describes the architecture and circuit implementation of a high-data-rate, energy-efficient equalized transceiver for high-loss dispersive channels, such as RC-limited on-chip interconnects or silicon-carrier packaging modules. The charge-injection transmitter directly conducts pre-emphasis current from the supply into the channel, eliminating the power overhead of analog current subtraction in conventional transmit pre-emphasis, while significantly relaxing the driver coefficient accuracy requirements. The transmitter utilizes a power efficient non-linear driver by compensating non-linearity with pre-distorted equalization coefficients. A trans-impedance amplifier at the receiver achieves low static power consumption, large signal amplitude, and high bandwidth by mitigating limitations of purely-resistive termination. A test chip is fabricated in 90-nm bulk CMOS technology and tested over a 10-mm, 2- μm pitched on-chip differential wire. The transceiver consumes 0.37-0.63 pJ/b with 4-6 Gb/s/ch.