Regenerative feedback repeaters for programmable interconnections

The use of regenerative feedback repeaters to reduce the delay in programmable interconnections is described. A static, complementary regenerative feedback (CRF) repeater is proposed. This CRF repeater locally regenerates the new level for a fixed time after a transition has been detected. Design issues and limitations are discussed. It is shown that rising transitions can propagate faster than falling transitions through a chain of overdriven nMOS switches with CRF repeaters. Experimental results from a 1.2 /spl mu/m CMOS implementation show that the loaded delay through 64 switches for static and dynamic repeaters can be reduced by a factor 1.4-2 over conventional repeaters.