Design considerations for low-power high-performance mobile logic and memory interfaces

Abstract

This paper highlights design considerations for low-power, high-performance mobile memory and logic interfaces, based on the results from the 14 mW, 6.25 Gb/s transceiver test chip demonstrated in 90 nm CMOS. One of the keys to achieving 2.25 mW/Gbps was the highly-sensitive, low-offset receiver. An accurate receiver enables low-swing signaling and requires less power and area from the transmitter. The smaller transceiver design in turn lowers the clock distribution power and improves the signal quality by presenting less loading to the clock and the channel, respectively. The improved signal quality enables even lower signal swing and a ldquospiral of goodnessrdquo continues. This paper examines these aspects in detail and discusses their potential implications to a broad spectrum of future low-power, high-performance mobile interface designs.