Phase locked loop with switched-component loop filter

• US 10,389,371 B1
• Filed: 08/06/2018
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SiTime Corporation (Megachips Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SiTime Corporation (Megachips Corporation)
• Inventors: Perrott, Michael H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Houston, Adam D
• Application Number:
  US16/055,934
• Time in Patent Office: 379 Days
• Field of Search: 327147-149, 327156-158
• CPC Class Codes: H03H 19/008 with variable switch closing time
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/0802 the loop being adapted for reducing power consumption H03L7/14 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/085 concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal H03L7/10 takes precedence; circuits for comparing the phase or frequency of two mutually-independent oscillations H03D13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/087 using at least two phase detectors or a frequency and phase detector in the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/089 the phase or frequency detector generating up-down pulses H03L7/087 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/091 the phase or frequency detector using a sampling device H03L7/087 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/093 using special filtering or amplification characteristics in the loop H03L7/087 - H03L7/091 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/0992 comprising a counter or a frequency divider
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/113 using frequency discriminator
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/183 a time difference being used for locking the loop, the counter counting between fixed numbers or the frequency divider dividing by a fixed number H03L7/1806 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/1976 using a phase accumulator for controlling the counter or frequency divider

Abstract

Phase-locked loop circuitry to generate an output signal, the phase-locked loop circuitry comprising oscillator circuitry, switched resistor loop filter, coupled to the input of the oscillator circuitry (which, in one embodiment, includes a voltage-controlled oscillator), including a switched resistor network including at least one resistor and at least one capacitor, wherein an effective resistance of the switched resistor network is responsive to and increases as a function of one or more pulsing properties of a control signal (wherein pulse width and frequency (or period) are pulsing properties of the control signal), phase detector circuitry, having an output which is coupled to the switched resistor loop filter, to generate the control signal (which may be periodic or non-periodic). The phase-locked loop circuitry may also include frequency detection circuitry to provide a lock condition of the phase-locked loop circuitry.

Claims

1. A locked-loop circuit comprising:

a voltage-controlled oscillator to generate an oscillator output signal having a frequency according to an oscillator control voltage;

phase detector circuitry to determine a time-varying phase difference between the oscillator output signal and a reference signal and to generate a resistance control signal having pulsing properties that vary in accordance with the time-varying phase difference; and

loop filter circuitry having;

a switched resistor network, including at least one resistor and at least one capacitor, to generate an effective resistance according to the pulsing properties of the resistance control signal; and

circuitry to generate the oscillator control voltage in accordance with the effective resistance of the switched resistor network.

2. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to generate the resistance control signal comprises circuitry to generate a periodic resistance control signal with a time-varying duty cycle in accordance with the time-varying phase difference.

3. The locked-loop circuit of claim 2 wherein the switched resistor network to generate the effective resistance comprises circuitry to generate an effective resistance that is inversely proportional to the time-varying duty cycle of the resistance control signal.

4. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to generate the resistance control signal comprises circuitry to generate, as the resistance control signal, a sequence of pulses having respective pulse widths that vary in accordance with the time-varying phase difference.

5. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to generate the resistance control signal comprises circuitry to generate, as the resistance control signal, an oscillating signal having a time-varying frequency in accordance with the time-varying phase difference.

6. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to generate the resistance control signal comprises circuitry to generate, as the resistance control signal, a sequence of pulses characterized by at least one of time-varying pulse widths or time-varying pulse frequency, and wherein the switched resistor network to generate the effective resistance according to the pulsing properties of the resistance control circuitry comprises circuitry to generate the effective resistance based, at least in part, on an average pulse width and average pulse frequency of the resistance control signal.

7. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to determine a time-varying phase difference between the oscillator output signal and a reference signal comprises circuitry to generate, as the resistance control signal, a pulse having a width according to a phase difference between the oscillator output signal and the reference signal.

8. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 further comprising a frequency-divider circuit to generate a frequency-divided version of the oscillator output signal wherein the phase detector to determine the time-varying phase difference between the oscillator output signal and the reference signal comprises circuitry to detect a phase difference between the frequency-divided version of the oscillator output signal and the reference signal.

9. The locked-loop circuit of claim 8 wherein the frequency-divider circuit to generate the frequency-divided version of the oscillator output signal comprises circuitry to frequency-divide the oscillator output signal by a factor greater than one such that frequency-divided version of the oscillator output signal and the reference signal have the same frequency.

10. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the phase detector circuitry to determine the time-varying phase difference between the oscillator output signal and the reference signal comprises circuitry having a gain proportional to a ratio of (i) the reference signal period and (ii) a pulse-on time of the resistance control signal.

11. The locked-loop circuit of claim 10 wherein the circuitry having a gain proportional to a ratio of (i) the reference signal period and (ii) a pulse-on time of the resistance control signal comprises circuitry to transition the resistance control signal between states representative of a maximum phase lag and a maximum phase lead in response to transition of a phase offset between the oscillator output signal and the reference signal over a phase range substantially briefer than the reference signal period.

12. The locked-loop circuit of claim 11 wherein the circuitry to transition the resistance control signal between states representative of a maximum phase lag and a maximum phase lead comprises circuitry to transition the resistance control signal between states representative of the maximum phase lag and maximum phase lead in response to transition of the phase offset between the oscillator output signal and the reference signal over a phase range corresponding to a ratio of the pulse-on time of the resistance control signal to the reference signal period.

13. The locked-loop circuit of claim 1 wherein the switched resistor network comprises an array of resistive elements constituted in part by the at least one resistor, and wherein the loop filter circuitry comprises circuitry to adjust a loop bandwidth of the locked-loop circuit by switchably configuring the array of resistive elements.

14. A locked-loop circuit comprising:

a voltage-controlled oscillator to generate a clock signal having a frequency according to a control voltage;

a phase detector to generate (i) a phase-compare pulse train having a pulse frequency according to a frequency of the clock signal and a pulse width substantially less than a half-cycle of the clock signal, and (ii) respective frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains based on the phase-compare pulse train and a reference signal such that pulses within the frequency-up pulse train have pulse widths according to a phase lead between rising edges of respective pulses within the phase-compare signal and corresponding rising edges within the reference signal, and pulses within the frequency-down pulse train have pulse widths according to a phase lag between falling edges of the respective pulses within the phase-compare signal and the corresponding rising edges within the reference signal; and

a loop filter to generate the control voltage based on the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains.

15. The locked-loop circuit of claim 14 wherein the loop filter to generate the control voltage based on the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains comprises circuitry to iteratively adjust the control voltage in accordance with relative widths of the pulses within the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains.

16. The locked-loop circuit of claim 15 wherein the circuitry to iteratively adjust the control voltage in accordance with relative widths of the pulses within the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains comprises circuitry to (i) increase the control voltage in response to pulses within the frequency-up pulse train that are wider than counterpart pulses within the frequency-down pulse train and (ii) decrease the control voltage in response to pulses within the frequency-down pulse train that are wider than counterpart pulses within the frequency-up pulse train.

17. The locked-loop circuit of claim 16 wherein the loop filter to generate the control voltage based on the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains comprises circuitry to adjust an effective resistance of a switched resistor network in response to the frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains, the switched resistor network having at least one resistor and at least one capacitor.

18. The locked-loop circuit of claim 14 wherein the phase detector to generate the respective frequency-up and frequency-down pulse trains such that pulses within the frequency-up pulse train have pulse widths according to a phase lead between rising edges of respective pulses within the phase-compare signal and corresponding rising edges within the reference signal, and pulses within the frequency-down pulse train have pulse widths according to a phase lag between falling edges of the respective pulses within the phase-compare signal and the corresponding rising edges within the reference signal comprises circuitry to generate (i) pulses within the frequency-down pulse train having pulse widths according to a phase lead between rising edges of first selected pulses within the phase-compare signal and corresponding rising edges within the reference signal, and (ii) pulses within the frequency-up pulse train having pulse widths according to a phase lag between rising edges of second selective pulses within the phase-compare signal and the corresponding rising edges within the reference signal.

19. The locked-loop circuit of claim 14 wherein loop filter comprises an array of resistive elements and an array of capacitive elements and circuitry to adjust a loop bandwidth of the locked-loop circuit by switchably configuring at least one the array of resistive elements or the array of capacitive elements.

20. A locked-loop circuit comprising:

means for generating an output signal that oscillates at a frequency according to a control voltage;

means for determining a time-varying phase difference between the output signal and a reference signal;

means for generating a resistance control signal having pulsing properties that vary in accordance with the time-varying phase difference; and

means, including at least one resistor and at least one capacitor, for generating (i) an effective resistance according to the pulsing properties of the resistance control signal, and (ii) the oscillator control voltage in accordance with the effective resistance of the switched resistor network.