A 20 Gbps voltage mode transmitter with a high-frequency signal boost in 28nm CMOS technology

A voltage mode transmitter that detects data transitions and enables a high frequency boost for the output signal is presented. The transmitter utilizes a passive high pass filter to detect input data transitions and increase the output amplitude by turning on additional NMOS and PMOS transistors only when the data is changing. In HSPICE simulations, the transmitter is capable of equalizing a 20 Gbps PRBS7 signal through a channel that has a loss of 9dB. It achieves a differential eye-opening amplitude of 194mVppd and an eye-opening of 0.988 UI. The transmitter is designed using 28nm CMOS process and uses a 1V supply voltage. It consumes 7mW of at-speed power.