500Mbps, 670μW/pin capacitively coupled receiver with self reset scheme for wireless connectors

Using capacitively coupled signaling, the feasibility of implementing an electronic connector as short as 240 mum in height is demonstrated for the first time using 0.18 mum CMOS technology and 125 mum FR4 printed circuit boards (PCBs). Maximum data rate of 500 Mbps/pin and 3.6 Gbps/mm² are measured with 670 muW/pin of power consumption even with large parasitic capacitance associated with the FR4 board. Compared to the conventional circuits, the proposed self reset circuit can send signals 2.8x faster at the same parasitic capacitance or allow 6x more parasitic capacitance at the same data rate.