state-of-the-art CMOS technologies makes the design of high-speed transmitters at signaling swings above the typical 1V supply a challenging task. Higher-voltage TX amplitude is not only required in older I/O standards and legacy applications, but also in emerging electro-optical extensions where high voltage swing combined with high-speed operation is desired. Higher swing also helps meet certain I/O standards in applications where losses introduced by high-density package constraints can be compensated to some extent. The source-series terminated (SST) driver is a versatile building block in a multistandard I/O TX thanks to its potential for low-power operation, its low area consumption, high CMOS-style circuit content, and flexible termination capability
Christian Menolfi1, Thomas Toifl1, Michael Rueegg2, Matthias Braendli1,
Peter Buchmann1, Marcel Kossel1, Thomas Morf1 1 IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Rueschlikon, Switzerland Miromico, Zurich, Switzerland 2 The limited supply voltage of today’s