A quarter-rate 4-tap decision feedback equalizer (DFE) using new analog sampling and soft-decision technique is proposed in this paper. The proposed DFE introduces two optimizations on basis of the original soft-decision DFE. Firstly, implementation of sample-and-hold circuit is changed into the cascade transmission gates to simplify the clock generation. Secondly, 4-tap structure is realized without increasing any hardware complexity to enhance the ability of equalization. To verify the DFE, a simplified transceiver is designed and fabricated in UMC 0.18-μm CMOS process, which mainly consists of a 4-tap DFE, a clock receiver and generator and a 4 to 1 multiplexer. The measurement results show that the quarter-rate 4-tap DFE can equalize 9 Gb/s 27?1 PRBS data passed over a 20 cm FR-4 channel with 16.3 dB of loss at 4.5 GHz and achieve 0.46UI timing margin for bit error rate = 10?12. The active area of the whole transceiver is 0.65 × 0.24 mm2, while the DFE occupies 0.13 × 0.18 mm2 and draws 7.2 mA from 1.8 V supply.