Voltage-Mode Driver Preemphasis Technique For On-Chip Global Buses

This paper demonstrates that driver preemphasis technique can be used for on-chip global buses to increase signal channel bandwidth. Compared to conventional repeater insertion techniques, driver preemphasis saves repeater layout complexity and reduces power consumption by 12%-39% for data activity factors above 0.1. A driver circuit architecture using voltage-mode preemphasis technique was tested in 0.18-$\mu$ m CMOS technology for 10-mm long interconnects at 2 Gb/s.