Tutorial: Basics of Clock-and-Data Recovery Circuits

The choice of the clock-and-data-recovery (CDR) architecture in serial links dictates many of the block-level circuit specs. In the first half of this tutorial we will discuss the basics of CDR operation, CDR main performance metrics, and the relationship between circuit-level parameters and system-level performance metrics. In the second half, we will review various CDR architectures and their associated design trade-offs. We will conclude with the review of a few practical CDR design considerations.