Integrated circuit passive signal distribution

A system comprising:

• a battery;
• a first processor to generate a signal;
• and
• a second processor coupled to the battery, the second processor including:
• a first electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection unit to receive the signal from the first processor;
• a passive transmission line (TL) coupled to the first ESD protection unit to receive the signal at a first end of the passive TL;
• a second ESD protection unit coupled to the passive TL at a first location of the passive TL;
• and
• a first circuit coupled to the second ESD protection unit.

An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:

• a first passive transmission line (TL) to receive at its first end a clock signal from another processor external to the IC;
• a second passive TL to receive at its first end a data signal from the other processor, the data signal being synchronized with reference to the clock signal;
• and
• a first circuit having an input node coupled to the first passive TL at a first location of the first passive TL to receive the clock signal, the clock signal for recovering data from the received data signal, wherein the first ends of the first and second passive TLs are independent of a termination unit.