Distributed capacitance compensation: a comment on `Negative capacitance bus terminator for improving the switching speed of a microcomputer databus'

For the original article see ibid., vol.SC-20, no.4, p.828-32 (1985). With low-current drivers, the transfer speed in a bus structure is limited by the capacitive loading of bus lines. Assuming a lumped RC model of the driver-line system, capacitance compensation can be achieved by a single active device as proposed by M. Shoji and R.M. Rolfe. If the bus is considered as a distributed system, the transfer speed can be enhanced by raising the characteristic impedance of the loaded lines by means of distributed capacitance compensation. The commenter introduces the concept of distributed compensation and provides some simulation results.