Current starved inverter voltage controlled oscillator
First Claim
1. A method of compensating for a non-linear region of high gain in a ring oscillator, said method comprising:
- representing the metal layers forming gates and various stray capacitance as a capacitor to be charged and discharged at an oscillating frequency for said oscillator;
charging and discharging said capacitor by a variable current supplied through a series circuit by a current starved inverter; and
compensating for said high gain and non-linear region by an anti high-gain circuit having a source of fixed charging and discharging current in parallel with said variable current supplied by said current starved inverter.
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Abstract
A voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) operating as a variable length, variable delay, ring oscillator having a current starved inverter and an anti high-gain circuit for each stage. A VCO feedback signal is compared with a reference frequency obtained, for example, from a system crystal oscillator. A phase and frequency detector monitors these two input signals and issues "up" or "down" commands to a digital counter. This digital counter delivers select signals via a decoder and also drives a Digital to Analog Converter ("DAC"). The digital select signal from the counter chooses an operational stage from the multi-stage, tandem-connected VCO. A broadband operation for the VCO is achieved by overlapping the individual frequency ranges associated with each of the individual stages. The DAC moves the operation along each selected frequency range associated with a selected stage until a system lock between the VCO output and the crystal references is achieved.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of compensating for a non-linear region of high gain in a ring oscillator, said method comprising:
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representing the metal layers forming gates and various stray capacitance as a capacitor to be charged and discharged at an oscillating frequency for said oscillator; charging and discharging said capacitor by a variable current supplied through a series circuit by a current starved inverter; and compensating for said high gain and non-linear region by an anti high-gain circuit having a source of fixed charging and discharging current in parallel with said variable current supplied by said current starved inverter. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A ring oscillator comprising a plurality of stages connected in tandem, each stage of said plurality of stages providing a frequency response and having:
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i. a digital input terminal, ii. an inverter having an input, an output and a feedback connection from said output to said input, and iii. an anti-high-gain circuit coupled to said inverter, wherein one of said plurality of stages is actuated in response to a digital control signal at said digital input terminal and said frequency response of the actuated stage is adjusted in response to an analog control signal. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A voltage-controlled ring oscillator comprising a plurality of stages connected in tandem, each stage of said plurality of stages having:
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i. an input terminal, ii. an output terminal, iii. a first current source, a second current source, a third current source, and fourth current source, iv. an inverter having a high-voltage node, a low-voltage node, an inverter input, an inverter output and a feedback connection from said inverter output to said inverter input, said first and second current sources coupled to said high-voltage node and said third and fourth current sources coupled to said low-voltage node, v. a three-state select circuit coupled to said inverter and coupled to said input terminal, wherein a first control signal actuates one of said plurality of stages and a second control signal adjusts a frequency response of the actuated stage. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification