A pseudo-emitter-coupled-logic (PECL)
receiver has a wide common-mode range. Two current-mirror
CMOS differential amplifiers are used. One
amplifier has n-channel differential transistors and a p-channel
current mirror, while the second
amplifier has p-channel differential transistors and an n-channel
current mirror. When the input voltages approach power or ground, one type of differential
transistor continues to operate even when the other type shuts off. The outputs of the two amplifiers are connected together and each
amplifier receives the same differential input signals. The
tail-current
transistor is self-biased using the current-mirror's gate-bias. This self biasing of each amplifier eliminates the need for an additional
voltage reference and allows each amplifier to adjust its biasing over a wide input-
voltage range. Thus the common-mode input range is extended using self biasing and complementary amplifiers. The complementary self-biased comparators can be used for receiving binary or multi-level-transition (MLT) inputs by selecting different
voltage references for threshold comparison. Using the same reference on both differential inputs eliminates a second reference for multi-level inputs having three levels. Thus binary and MLT inputs can be detected and decoded by the same decoder.