An 8-Gb/s inductorless adaptive passive equalizer in 0.18-μm CMOS technology

This paper presents an inductorless 8-Gb/s adaptive passive equalizer with low-power consumption and small chip area. The equalizer has a tunable RC filter which provides high-frequency gain boosting and a limiting amplifier that restores the signal level from the filter output. It also includes a feedback loop which automatically adjusts the filter gain for the optimal frequency response. The equalizer fabricated in 0.18-μm CMOS technology can successfully equalize 8-Gb/s data transmitted through up to 50-cm FR4 PCB channels. It consumes 6.75 mW from 1.8-V supply voltage and occupies 0.021 mm² of chip area.