A method for manufacturing a serial link including a channel and a receiver, the link including linear time-invariant elements, the receiver including a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) including a nonlinear block, and a slicer having an input. The method includes: for each of a plurality of candidate CTLE configurations: calculating a first probability density function (PDF), corresponding to a first signal value, at the input of the nonlinear block, calculating a first PDF, corresponding to the first signal value, at the output of the nonlinear block; calculating a second PDF, corresponding to a second signal value, at the input of the nonlinear block, calculating a second PDF, corresponding to the second signal value, at the output of the nonlinear block; and calculating a bit error rate.