An active analog delay and the delay reference loop

Wireline signal processing circuits such as transversal equalizers rely on true time delay. An active analog delay stage is proposed that requires a sixteenth of the area of a comparable LC delay line. A delay reference loop is also presented to tune the delay stage against process, voltage, and temperature variations. A reference signal is introduced to tune the delay. The impact of non-idealities must be considered to understand the relationship between the reference frequency and the locked time delay. A SiGe BiCMOS implementation of the active analog delay stage and delay reference loop is presented that operates to 10Gb/s.