Novel high-speed level up-shifter design for improved delay, duty cycle
and skew.
Abstract
High-speed level-up shifters (HSLS) are key components in low-power,
high-speed CMOS I/O links. Conventional HSLS designs rely on
single-ended to differential converters, which add delay, power, and
degrade output duty cycle accuracy. This work introduces a novel HSLS
that eliminates the need for explicit conversion by using delay
interpolation, improving differential duty cycle centering while
reducing power and latency. Additionally, conventional HSLS
architectures suffer from single ended duty-cycle distortion and P/N
skew. To address this, an auxiliary source follower is proposed to
correct these distortions systematically. The combined techniques result
in a superior HSLS architecture, demonstrated through PVT and Monte
Carlo simulations (1000 samples), with performance compared to a
traditional design