3Gb/s AC-coupled chip-to-chip communication using a low-swing pulse receiver

A 3Gbit/s 60mV low-swing pulse receiver is presented for AC-coupled interconnect (ACCI). Using this receiver, we demonstrate without errors, chip-to-chip communication through an ACCI channel with 150fF coupling capacitors, across 15cm FR4 microstrip line. A test chip is fabricated in 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS technology and the TX and RX dissipate 15mW per I/O at 3Gbit/s.