An Energy-Efficient Equalized Transceiver for RC-Dominant Channels Byungsub Kim, Student Member , IEEE, and Vladimir Stojanovic´, Member , IEEE

Abstract

This work describes the architecture and circuit im- plementation of a high-data-rate, energy-efficient equalized trans- ceiver for high-loss dispersive channels, such as RC-limited on-chip interconnects or silicon-carrier packaging modules. The charge-in- jection 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 require- ments. The transmitter utilizes a power efficient non-linear driver by compensating non-linearity with pre-distorted equalization co- efficients. A trans-impedance amplifier at the receiver achieves low static power consumption, large signal amplitude, and high band- width 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- m pitched on-chip differential wire. The trans- ceiver consumes 0.37–0.63 pJ/b with 4–6 Gb/s/ch.