For generation of the multiphase clocks for a serializer, a wide-range multiphase delay-locked loop (DLL) is used in the transmitter to avoid the detrimental characteristics of a phase-locked loop (PLL), such as jitter peaking and accumulated phase error. A tracked 3 x oversampling technique with dead-zone phase detection is incorporated in the receiver for robust clock/data recovery in the presence of excessive jitter and intersymbol interference (ISI). Due to the dead-zone phase detection, phase adjustment is performed only on the tail portions of the transition histogram in the received data eye, thereby exhibiting wide pumping-current range, large jitter tolerance, and small phase error. A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), based on a folded starved inverter, shows about 50% less jitter than one with replica bias. The transceiver, implemented in 0.25-mum CMOS technology, operates at 2.5 GBaud over a 10-m 150-Omega STP cable and at 1.25 GBaud over a 25-m cable with a bit error rate (BER) of less than 10(-13).
