Tutorial: ADC-Based Serial Links: Design and Analysis

Growing serial I/O data rates, over both severe low-pass electrical and dispersive optical channels, necessitate increased equalization complexity and consideration of more bandwidth-efficient modulation schemes, such as four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM4). Serial links which utilize ADC-based receiver front-ends offer a potential solution, as they enable more powerful and flexible DSP forequalization and symbol detection and can easily support advanced modulation schemes. This tutorial will provide an overview of key concepts in ADC-based serial links that support operation over high-loss channels. Topics covered include high-speed ADC topologies, digital equalizers, benefits of partial analog equalization, modeling approaches, and calibration techniques.