45-Gb/s SiGe BiCMOS PRBS generator and PRBS checker [pseudorandom bit sequence]

A 2/sup 7/-1 pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) generator chip set that operates up to 45 Gb/s was fabricated and tested. The circuits are implemented using bipolar transistors in a SiGe BiCMOS technology and operate from a single -3.3 V power supply. The PRBS generator, which consumes 1.32 W, uses a high speed 4:1 multiplexer to produce the final output from four quarter-rate streams. The automatic synchronizing PRBS checker consumes 1.2 W and uses a half-rate architecture, demultiplexing the full-rate data stream to lower rate streams that are checked in parallel.