A 0.1–0.3 V 40–123 fJ/bit/ch On-Chip Data Link With ISI-Suppressed Bootstrapped Repeaters

This paper presents a 40-130 fJ/bit/ch on-chip data link design under a 0.1-0.3 V power supply. A bootstrapped CMOS repeater is proposed to drive a 10 mm on-chip bus. It features a -V_DD to 2V_DD swing to enhance the driving capability and reduces the sub-threshold leakage current. Additionally, a precharge enhancement scheme increases the speed of the data transmission, and a leakage current reduction technique suppresses ISI jitter. A test chip is fabricated in a 55 nm SPRVT Low-K CMOS process. The measured results demonstrate that for a 10 mm on-chip bus, the achievable data rate is 0.8-100 Mbps, and the energy consumption is 40-123 fJ per bit under 0.1-0.3 V V_DD.