A. P. Jose, G. Patounakis, and K. L. Shepard, “Pulse current-mode signalling for nearly speed-of-light intrachip communications” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, Vol. 41, April, 2006, pp. 772-780.
Abstract
In this paper, we describe the design of on-chip repeater-less interconnects with nearly speed-of-light latency. Sharp current-pulse data transmission is used to modulate transmitter energy to higher frequencies, where the effect of wire inductance is maximized, allowing the on-chip wires to function as transmission lines with considerably reduced dispersion. A prototype 8-Gb/s serial link employing this pulsed current-mode signaling in a 0.18- m CMOS process is described and measured.