An Energy-Efficient Mobile Memory I/O Interface Using Simultaneous Bidirectional Multilevel Dual-Band Signaling

An energy-efficient and high-speed mobile memory interface using a novel multilevel dual-band (MDB) signaling is demonstrated. The proposed MDB memory interface that incorporates pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) and RF-band signaling enables simultaneous bidirectional data links through a shared single-ended off-chip transmission line. The PAM and RF-band carries 9.2 and 4.2 Gb/s/pin, respectively. Each RF-band and PAM transceiver consumes 12.6 and 18.4 mW at 1.2 V supply, respectively. The proposed transceiver operates at 13.4 Gb/s/pin with a power efficiency of 2.3 pJ/b/pin and achieves a bit error rate <;10
^-15
with 2
²³
-1 PRBS over a distance of 5 cm. The prototype chip is fabricated in a 65-nm CMOS process with a total area of 0.13 mm
²
.