A CMOS adaptive equalizer using low-voltage zero generators technique

This paper presents a 5 Gb/s adaptive equalizer that compensates for the FR-4 channel loss of 14 dB at 2.5 GHz. This equalizing filter uses low-voltage zero generators (LVZGs) to generate high-frequency tunable gain boosting without inductors. The power detector combines current steering techniques and a pre-amplifier circuit to enhance the voltage swing. This design consumes 17.6 mW (excluding the output buffers) at a 1.6 V supply voltage with an output swing of 560 mV (p-p). The area occupied is 0.1 mm² (including output buffers), and output peak-to-peak jitter is 0.28 UI. The equalizer achieves high frequency compensation, small area, and low power consumption.