This article presents a 200-Gb/s pulse amplitude-modulation four-level (PAM-4) and 100-Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) transmitter (TX) in 28-nm CMOS technology. To achieve the target data rate, the output bandwidth and swing of the proposed TX are optimized by minimizing the output capacitance of the 4:1 multiplexer (MUX) and driver stage with pull-up current sources and adopting a fully reconfigurable 5-tap feed-forward equalizer (FFE). The key circuit includes a segmented 8:4 MUX and 4:1 MUX/driver, a thermal encoder and retimer, and a flexible clock distribution network. Using the layout generated with Berkeley Analog Generator (BAG), the proposed TX achieves an eye opening with >52.9-mV eye height, 0.36 UI eye width, >98% RLM, and 4.63 pJ/b at 200-Gb/s PAM-4 signaling under >6-dB channel loss at 50 GHz, demonstrating the highest data rate achieved using a planar process.

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We present a ring-oscillator-based sub-sampling phase-locked loop (PLL) using a generator-based design flow. A hybrid loop with a delta-sigma ($\Delta \Sigma$) modulator is applied to reduce the loop filter (LF) area and the control ripple. The generator automatically produces the ring oscillator and PLL to meet the provided specifications. The 10-GHz PLL instance implemented in 28-nm planar process achieves RMS jitter of}299.5 fs and power of 9.9 mW from a 1-V supply.@en

This paper presents a complete 200Gb/s PAM-4 transmitter (TX) in 28nm CMOS technology. The transmitter features a hybrid sub-sampling PLL (SSPLL) with a delta-sigma (?S) modulator, clock distribution network with flexible timing control, and data path with a hybrid 5-tap Feed-Forward Equalizer (FFE) and T-coil for bandwidth extension. The prototype chip achieves 4.69 pJ/bit efficiency, 54mV eye height, 0.27UI eye width, and 97% RLM under -6dB channel loss at 50GHz.

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