Programmable channel equalization for multi-level signaling
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorFeng Lin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory interface may include a transmitter that generates multi-level signals. The transmitter may employ channel equalization to improve the quality and robustness of the multi-level signals. The channel equalization may be controlled independently from the drive strength of the multi-level signals. For example, a first control signal may control the de-emphasis or pre-emphasis applied to a multi-level signal and a second control signal may control the drive strength of the multi-level signal. The first control signal may control a channel equalization driver circuit and the second control signal may control a driver circuit.
Claims13
An apparatus, comprising:
- a controller coupled with a first control line and a second control line;
- a first driver coupled with a data line and comprising a first plurality of sub-circuits coupled with the first control line, each sub-circuit of the first plurality comprising a resistive component coupled with a first voltage source via a transistor that has a gate terminal coupled with the first control line;
- and
- a second driver coupled with the data line and comprising a second plurality of sub-circuits coupled with the second control line, each sub-circuit of the second plurality comprising a resistive component coupled with a second voltage source via a transistor that has a gate terminal coupled with the second control line.
A method, comprising:
- communicating a first control signal to a first driver and a second control signal to a second driver;
- increasing, by the first driver and based at least in part on the first control signal, a voltage on a data line by a first amount representative of a first bit of a symbol in a multi-level signal, wherein a voltage pulse is generated on the data line based at least in part on the first driver increasing the voltage;
- and
- reducing, by the second driver and based at least in part on the second control signal, the voltage on the data line by a second amount partway through the voltage pulse, the second amount less than the first amount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.