10Gbps injection-locked CDR with a simple bit transition detector in 0.18µm CMOS technology

A new and simple bit transition detection technique for non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals is described. The bit transition detector uses MOSFET transistor’s nonlinearity to extract return-to-zero (RZ) signals from NRZ signals. The resulting RZ signals can be used for injection-locking an oscillator, performing clock synchronization. A 10Gbps injection-locked clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit is successfully demonstrated with the bit transition detector in 0.18μm CMOS technology.