Energy-efficient design of high-speed links

Techniques for reducing power consumption and bandwidth limitations of inter-chip communication have been getting more attention to improve the performance of modern digital systems. This chapter begins with a brief overview of high-speed link design and describes some of the power vs. performance trade-offs associated with various design choices. The chapter then investigates various techniques that a designer may employ to reduce power consumption. Three examples of link designs and link building blocks found in the literature present energy-efficient implementations of these techniques.