TIMING OSCILLATORS AND RELATED METHODS

• US 20090267700A1
• Filed: 04/29/2008
• Published: 10/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Analog Devices, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SAND9
• Inventors: Schoepf, Klaus J., Mohanty, Pritiraj, Zolfagharkhani, Guiti, Gaidarzhy, Alexei, Crowley, Matthew J., Chen, David M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,044,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 331/175
• CPC Class Codes: H03B 5/30 with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 1/00 Stabilisation of generator output against variations of physical values, e.g. power supply
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 1/04 Constructional details for maintaining temperature constant
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/16 Indirect frequency synthesis, i.e. generating a desired one of a number of predetermined frequencies using a frequency- or phase-locked loop

Abstract

Timing oscillators as well as related methods and devices are described. A timing oscillator may include a mechanical resonating structure with major elements and minor elements coupled to the major element. The timing oscillator can generate stable signals with low phase noise at very high frequencies which allows a timing oscillator to be used effectively in a number of devices including computers and mobile phones for time and data synchronization purposes. The signal generated by the timing oscillator can be tuned using a driver circuit and a compensation circuit.

Claims

1. A timing oscillator comprising:

a mechanical resonating structure including a major element and a minor element coupled to the major element;

a drive circuit designed to provide an input signal to the mechanical resonating structure; and

a compensation circuit coupled to the mechanical resonating structure.

2. The timing oscillator of claim 1, wherein the compensation circuit adjusts a timing oscillator output signal to account for thermal variations.

3. The timing oscillator of claim 1, wherein the compensation circuit adjusts a timing oscillator output signal to account for process variations.

4. The timing oscillator of claim 1, wherein the compensation circuit adjusts a timing oscillator output signal to account for jitter.

5. The timing oscillator of claim 1, wherein the compensation circuit includes a synthesizer.

6. The timing oscillator of claim 1, wherein the timing oscillator is configured to produce an output signal, the frequency of the input signal being equal to or greater than the output signal.

7. A timing oscillator comprising a mechanical resonating structure, wherein the timing oscillator is designed to generate a first signal and provide an output signal, a frequency of the first signal being equal to or greater than a frequency of the output signal.

8. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the output signal has a frequency of at least 100 MHz.

9. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the output signal has a frequency between 100 MHz and 1 GHz.

10. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the first signal has a frequency of at least 1 GHz.

11. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the first signal has a frequency of at least 1 MHz.

12. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the first signal has a frequency of at least 32 KHz.

13. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the first signal has a frequency of between 1 GHz and 10 GHz.

14. The timing oscillator of claim 7, wherein the mechanical resonating structure includes a major element and a minor element coupled to the major element.

15. The timing oscillator of claim 7, further comprising a dividing circuit configured to reduce the frequency of the input signal to produce the output signal.

16. A device comprising:

a timing oscillator configured to generate a first signal and produce an output signal; and

a dividing circuit configured to receive the output signal from the timing oscillator, and the dividing circuit configured to produce a second output signal having a frequency greater than a frequency of the output signal from the timing oscillator.

17. A timing oscillator comprising:

a bank of micromechanical resonating structures designed to provide multiple respective output signals, wherein the micromechanical resonating structures include at least one resonating structure having a large dimension of less than 100 micron; and

at least one switch associated with the bank of mechanical resonating structures, the at least one switch designed to select a first signal from the output signals from the bank of micromechanical resonating structures.

18. The timing oscillator of claim 17, a synthesizer designed to receive the first signal.

19. The timing oscillator of claim 17, further comprising a filter to filter the first signal.

20. The timing oscillator of claim 17, wherein the at least one mechanical resonating structure includes a major element and a minor element coupled to the major element.

21. The timing oscillator of claim 20, wherein the minor element has a large dimension of between 0.001 micron and 1 micron.

22. The timing oscillator of claim 20, wherein the major element has a large dimension of between 0.01 micron and 100 micron.

23. The timing oscillator of claim 17, wherein respective output signals have different frequencies.

24. The timing oscillator of claim 17, further comprising a first compensation circuit to receive the multiple output signals from the bank of micromechanical resonating structures.

25. The timing oscillator of claim 17, wherein a second compensation circuit accounts for a stability of the bank of micromechanical resonating structures.

26. The timing oscillator of claim 17, wherein the first compensation circuit and the second compensation circuit are implemented in one circuit.

27. A method comprising:

generating a first signal using a timing oscillator comprising a mechanical resonating structure; and

processing the first signal to provide an output signal having a frequency equal to or less than the first signal.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the output signal is provided by the timing oscillator.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the output signal is provided by a dividing circuit connected to an output of the timing oscillator.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the output signal has a frequency of at least 100 MHz.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the output signal has a frequency between 100 MHz and 1 GHz.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the first signal has a frequency of at least 1 GHz.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the first signal has a frequency of at least 1 MHz.

34. The method of claim 27, wherein the first signal has a frequency of between 1 GHz and 10 GHz.