From: D. C. Sessions ([email protected])
Date: Tue Nov 02 1999 - 13:34:21 PST
Gregg Fokken wrote:
> Thanks for the input. I was trying to figure out how folks were
> implementing this without having Vgs (at Voh) that wasn't near cutoff. The
> second rail for the source-followers makes a lot of sense for fixing the
> problem on the IC, but obviously complicates the system design a bit. Out
> of curiousity, is your 3.3V predriver still in the form of a differential
> amplifier (like standard ECL) and if so, how do you go from single-ended
> CMOS in the core to drive this?
I don't even try to solve the phase-splitter problem. Since it's basically
impossible to completely match the inverting and noninverting path delays,
you always get some duty-cycle distortion if you try to split the phase in
the I/O cell. Instead I just demand complementary inputs from the core and
let the designer make the tradeoff. If they don't care, they can just use
an inverter. If they care a little bit they can use an inverter/passgate
combo. If they sweat blood over it they can invert before the final flops
and reduce it to noise.
> If not the same architecture as standard
> ECL, what does this predriver look like? Or am I now also approaching the
> point of needing an NDA... :-) Thanks in advance for any ideas you're
> willing/able to share.
I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you.
> On Nov 2, 9:37am, D. C. Sessions wrote:
> > Subject: Re: [SI-LIST] : PECL output buffer implementation in CMOS
> > Jayarama Shenoy wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi All,
> > >
> > > Can someone provide insight into PECL output buffer
> > > implementation in CMOS tecnologies? It is being claimed
> > > that this cannot be done while at the same time retaining
> > > the power supply noise rejection of differential output
> > > drivers, which I find hard to understand.
> > >
> > > Any pointers to public literature on PECL (or similar diff-
> > > erential) output drivers in CMOS will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Hey, Jay.
> >
> > PECL can most certainly be done in CMOS. That, or the ones I'm
> > shipping use previously-unknown laws of physics. As for telling
> > YOU the details, you now need an NDA. Should've asked before you
> > left!
> >
> > Seriously, what your sources were referring to was that since CMOS
> > doesn't make efficient low-offset pullup followers the way bipolar
> > does, you don't get the benefits of hanging the positive rail on
> > the high-impedance collector (or drain) node of the transistor.
> > The high impedance of the collector node means that voltage noise
> > on the positive rail doesn't show up as current noice on the output.
> >
> > The hidden assumption here is that the CMOS output follower has to
> > run on the same supply as the predriver. Where bipolar thrives on
> > small base-emitter voltages, MOS devices need more voltage bias and
> > the voltages available in PECL aren't well-chosen for this. (Duh!)
> >
> > On the other hand, nowhere is it written in stone that the positive
> > rail for PECL has to be +5 volts. 2.5 volts with a 3.3 volt predriver
> > gives an output common-mode point of about 1.2 volts, which is by
> > astonishing coincidence also (a) centered in the rails, and (b) the
> > common-mode point for LVDS. Astonishing. And along with this comes
> > a high-state Vgs of 1.5 volts, which is enough to make a reasonable
> > NMOS output device happy without desaturating it.
> >
> > Another possibility is to run open-drain. If you absolutely need the
> > speed, this is nice because you don't have to coordinate the pullup
> > an pulldown devices.
> >
> > The reference supply voltage for PECL is a system tradeoff. Personally,
> > the more I work with PECL the more unprintable things I find to say
> > about it. That acronym lends itself to some amazing abuse, let me
> > tell you. If you have *anything* resembling a choice, run (don't walk)
> > to a more sensible scheme like HSTL or GLVDS. A lot of the 'PECL'
> > applications I'm seeing actually don't require PECL and would work fine
> > with almost any low-swing differential scheme.
> >
> > --
> > D. C. Sessions
> > [email protected]
> >
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> >
> >-- End of excerpt from D. C. Sessions
>
> --
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Gregg Fokken Internet(email): [email protected]
> Mayo Foundation Phone: (507) 284-5692
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>
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