A receiver circuit includes an analog front end and a non-linear equalizer. The analog front end including a super source follower (SSF) amplifier having a first input terminal adapted to couple to a transmission line to receive an input signal referenced to a first voltage level, a second input adapted to receive a reference voltage, and first and second output terminals adapted to provide an amplified signal referenced to a second voltage level. The non-linear equalizer coupled to receive an output signal of the analog front end and compensate for inter-symbol interference at a data rate of at least 14 Gbps. The SSF amplifier includes transistors having relative sizes selected to provide a frequency response of the SSF amplifier with a peak at a frequency approximately ⅔ of the data rate.

The present invention provides a differential signal offset adjustment circuit, wherein first and second transistors are respectively coupled between a power supply line and a first current source, and between the power supply line and a second current source. First and second resistors are respectively coupled between the first transistor and a first variable current source, and between the second transistor and a second variable current source. Third and fourth transistors are respectively coupled between a third resistor and a third current source, and between a fourth resistor and a fourth current source, and have input terminals respectively coupled to the first and second resistors. Fifth and sixth transistors are respectively coupled between the power supply line and a fifth current source, and between the power supply line and a sixth current source, and have input terminals respectively coupled to the third and fourth transistors. A fifth resistor is coupled between the third and fourth current sources.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to an electrical amplifier comprising a differential preamplifier having a first output port and a second output port; and a downstream amplifier stage having a first output unit and a second output unit; wherein the first output unit is connected to the first output port of the differential preamplifier and the second output unit is connected to the second output port of the differential preamplifier; and wherein a negative impedance converter is electrically located in at least one of said differential preamplifier and said downstream amplifier stage.

An amplifier includes input transconductors that receive an input signal, the input signal having a voltage swing. A supply side current mirror generates a gate voltage as a function of input signal voltage and current sources that provide a bias current of the input transconductors as a function of the gate voltage to maintain a constant bias current across the voltage swing of the input signal. Resistors average source voltages of the transconductance-cancelling transconductors to provide an average source voltage and apply the average source voltage to wells of input devices of the transconductance-cancelling transconductors to reduce back bias effect. The input devices are laid out in a same well and have a common centroid to cancel out process mismatches. A first I-DAC trims an offset of first transconductors, and a second I-DAC trims an offset of second transconductors to attain low offsets across a rail-to-rail input common mode range.

An operational amplifier 1 comprises transistors Q1 and Q2 forming an input stage, and input resistors R1 and R2 which form a filter together with parasitic capacitors C1 and C2 accompanying the transistors Q1 and Q2. Resistance values R of the resistors R1 and R2 may be set to R=1/(2π.Math.fc.Math.C), where C is the capacitance value of each of the parasitic capacitors C1 and C2, and fc is the target cutoff frequency of the filter. The operational amplifier 1 may also include a power supply resistor R0 which forms a filter together with a parasitic capacitor C0 accompanying a power supply line.

An exemplary embodiment of the invention relates to an electrical amplifier comprising a differential preamplifier having a first output port and a second output port; and a downstream amplifier stage having a first output unit and a second output unit; wherein the first output unit is connected to the first output port of the differential preamplifier and the second output unit is connected to the second output port of the differential preamplifier; and wherein a negative impedance converter is electrically located in at least one of said differential preamplifier and said downstream amplifier stage.

An electrical system includes a power supply and an electrical circuit coupled to the power supply and including an operational amplifier. The operational amplifier includes an input stage and a pre-driver stage coupled to the input stage, wherein the pre-driver stage includes a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and a voltage supply terminal. The operational amplifier also includes an output stage with bipolar transistors coupled to the pre-driver stage. The pre-driver stage is configured to: detect a voltage differential across the first and second input terminals of the pre-driver stage; and provide an adjustable bias current based on the voltage differential.

Modern modulator drivers must be capable of delivering a large output voltage into a tens of ohms modulator, while minimizing the amount of distortion added by the driver. The driver should deliver the output voltage without exceeding a maximum distortion while minimizing the DC power consumption. Accordingly, a modulator driver includes a final stage amplifier with auxiliary transistors that turn on when the conventional differential pair of transistors approaches their maximum voltage of the linear region of their transfer function, thereby providing a more linear transfer function, in particular at large input voltages.

Within a modulator driver, different blocks are employed, e.g. a buffer, one or more variable gain amplifiers (VGA), and a final driver stage. Each of these blocks has an optimum bias point for best performance; however, interconnecting the blocks requires sharing the DC bias points in their interface, which does not necessarily match the optimum performance bias point of each block. Accordingly, a first offset feedback loop extending from reference points after a selected one of the blocks to an input of one of the blocks. The first offset feedback loop includes current sources capable of delivering a variable current to the input of the selected block in order to compensate any offset in an amplified differential input electrical signal measured at the reference points. A first bias feedback loop is also provided, including a current sinker for subtracting excess current introduced in the first offset compensation feedback loop.

The present invention provides a differential signal offset adjustment circuit, wherein first and second transistors are respectively coupled between a power supply line and a first current source, and between the power supply line and a second current source. First and second resistors are respectively coupled between the first transistor and a first variable current source, and between the second transistor and a second variable current source. Third and fourth transistors are respectively coupled between a third resistor and a third current source, and between a fourth resistor and a fourth current source, and have input terminals respectively coupled to the first and second resistors. Fifth and sixth transistors are respectively coupled between the power supply line and a fifth current source, and between the power supply line and a sixth current source, and have input terminals respectively coupled to the third and fourth transistors. A fifth resistor is coupled between the third and fourth current sources.