Robust ESD protection design for 40-GB/s transceiver in 65-Nm CMOS process

To protect a 40-Gb/s transceiver from electrostatic discharge (ESD) damages, a robust ESD protection design has been proposed and realized in a 65-nm CMOS process. In this paper, diodes are used for ESD protection and inductors are used for high-speed performance fine tuning. Experimental results of the test circuits have been successfully verified, including high-speed performances and ESD robustness. The proposed design has been further applied to a 40-Gb/s current-mode logic (CML) buffer. Verified in silicon chip, the 40-Gb/s CML buffer with the proposed design can achieve good high-speed performance and high ESD robustness.