A sub-resonant 40GHz clock distribution network with near zero skew

Abstract

A sub-resonant mm-wave clock distribution network is presented. The proposed solution introduces near zero skew while consumes significantly less power than alternative approaches such as mesh networks. The clock distribution network was implemented using the TSMC 40nm LP CMOS process and measured using a 4-port vector network analyzer. It measures sub-psec skew from 36.6 to 40.2GHz with less than 20% power penalty compared to resonant solutions.