US 12,719,475 B2Granted

Pull-up-pull-down-inverter (PUDI), PUDI-based system for continuous-time linear-equalization, and method of operating same

AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.

InventorsChieh Jen Huang, Mu-Shan Lin, Wen-Hung Huang, Shu-Chun Yang, Wei Chih Chen, Chien-Chun Tsai

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Abstract

A system (for determining a lineup amongst a roster of all PFETs and all NFETs that are slaves in a subject group of pull-up-pull-down-inverters (PUDIs) that are coupled in parallel) includes: a comparator to make a comparison between a reference voltage and an output of the subject group. The controller performs: an assessment of a candidate lineup chosen from the roster including setting states of PFET-selection selection signals and NFET-selection signals according to the candidate lineup, and a manipulation based on the comparison including setting the starting-lineup to be the candidate lineup or modifying the candidate lineup and repeating the assessment and manipulation.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system for determining a starting-lineup amongst a roster, the system comprising:

a comparator configured to make a comparison between a reference voltage and an output of a subject group;
the subject group including pull-up-pull-down-inverters (PUDIs) coupled in parallel, each of the PUDIs including master and slave positive-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) field-effect transistor (FETs) (PFETs) and slave and master negative-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) FETs (NFETs);
for each of the PUDIs, a control input of each of the slave PFET and slave NFET transistors being coupled to an input node of the PUDI, a control input of the master PFET transistor being configured to receive a PFET-selection signal that is PUDI-specific, and a control input of the master NFET transistor being configured to receive an NFET-selection signal that is PUDI-specific;
the roster being comprised of all slave PFETs and all slave NFETs in the subject group;
and
for the subject group, a controller configured to perform an assessment of a candidate lineup chosen from the roster, the assessment including:
set PFET-selection selection signals for the subject group to be correspondingly in an PFET-active state or a PFET-inactive state,
set NFET-selection signals for the subject group to be correspondingly in an NFET-active state or an NFET-inactive state;
and
perform a manipulation based on the comparison including:
setting the starting-lineup to be the candidate lineup;
or
modifying the candidate lineup and repeating the assessment and manipulation.

10 more elements

A method of determining a starting-lineup amongst a roster, the method comprising:

selecting one amongst groups of pull-up-pull-down-inverters (PUDIs) to be a subject group, each of the PUDIs including master and slave positive-channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) field-effect transistor (FETs) (PFETs) and slave and master negative-channel metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS) FETs (NFETs);
coupling the PUDIs of the subject group in parallel;
for each of the PUDIs in the subject group:
coupling a control input of each of the slave PFET and slave NFET transistors to an input node of the PUDI;
configuring a control input of the master PFET transistor to receive a PFET-selection signal that is PUDI-specific;
and
configuring a control input of the master NFET transistor to receive an NFET-selection signal that is PUDI-specific;
assessing a candidate lineup for the subject group chosen from the roster, the roster being comprised of all slave PFETs and all slave NFETs in the subject group, the assessing including:
setting the PFET-selection signals to be correspondingly in a PFET-active state or a PFET-inactive state according to the candidate lineup;
setting the NFET-selection signals to be correspondingly in an NFET-active state or an NFET-inactive state according to the candidate lineup;
and
using a comparator to make a comparison of a reference voltage and an output of the subject group;
and
performing a manipulation based on the comparison including:
setting the starting-lineup to be the candidate lineup;
or
modifying the candidate lineup and repeating the assessment and manipulation.

14 more elements

A continuous-time-linear equalizer (CTLE) comprising:

a buffer having an output representing an output of the CTLE;
a first group of j pull-up-pull-down-inverters (PUDIs) coupled in parallel;
a data input of each of the PUDIs in the first group being coupled to an input node of the CTLE;
the first group being coupled between the input node of the CTLE and an input of the buffer;
a first active inductor coupled to an output node of the first group;
a first control input of each of the PUDIs in the first group being configured to receive a corresponding first conductivity type (FCT) selection signal that is PUDI-specific;
a second control input of each of the PUDIs in the first group being configured to receive a corresponding second conductivity type (SCT) selection signal that is PUDI-specific;
and
a controller configured to operate as follows including:
adaptively set the FCT selection signals for the first group to be correspondingly in an FCT-active state or an FCT-inactive state;
and
adaptively set the SCT selection signals for the first group to be correspondingly in an SCT-active state or an SCT-inactive state;
and
each of j and p being positive integers.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.