Low power 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface

A network communication interface apparatus comprising:

• an analog front end, for coupling to a cable to receive a communication signal;
• a charge-domain pipeline analog to digital converter (ADC), coupled to receive the communication signal at an input, and to provide a digital representation thereof at an output;
• and
• wherein the charge-domain pipeline ADC further comprises:
• a first charge transfer circuit;
• a second charge transfer circuit;
• a node coupled to the first charge transfer circuit and the second charge transfer circuit;
• a capacitor coupled to the node and to a clocked voltage;
• a switched voltage coupled to the node;
• and
• at least one of the first or second charge transfer circuits being a boosted charge transfer circuit.

A network communication interface apparatus comprising:

• an analog front end, connected to receive a 10 Gigabit Ethernet compatible input signal;
• and
• a pipelined charge domain analog-to-digital converter using bucket brigade charge transfer, coupled to receive the input signal and further comprising:
• a first charge transfer circuit;
• a second charge transfer circuit;
• a node coupled to the first charge transfer circuit and the second charge transfer circuit;
• a first clocked capacitor coupled to the node and to a clocked voltage;
• a plurality of conditional charge capacitors coupled to the node and to conditional voltages, each of the plurality of conditional charge capacitors configured to provide conditional charge to the node.