We present an analysis comparing multilevel signaling to standard NRZ signaling for module-to-module on-board electrical interconnects. To optimize on-board electrical performance, duo-binary and PAM4 I/O models were created and compared to NRZ signaling in behavioral link-level simulations. A great variety of high-density, high-speed on-board module-to-module electrical links were analyzed, and specific interconnect channels were validated experimentally with programmable equalization transceiver chips communicating through a set of fabricated test structures. Link performance was measured with on-chip eye monitoring circuits and an oscilloscope. Both simulation and measurement results show that NRZ signaling with FFE and DFE equalization offers the best electrical performance.

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