Circuitry for the delay adjustment of a clock signal

• US 5,945,862 A
• Filed: 07/31/1997
• Issued: 08/31/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Rambus Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rambus Inc.
• Inventors: Kim, Jun, Lee, Thomas H., Zerbe, Jared L., Garlepp, Bruno W., Horowitz, Mark A., Donnelly, Kevin S., Chau, Pak Shing, Chan, Yiu-Fai, Portmann, Clemenz L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wells, Kenneth B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hai L.
• Application Number:
  US08/904,203
• Time in Patent Office: 761 Days
• Field of Search: 327/231, 327/237, 327/241, 327/242, 327/258, 327/261, 327/269, 327/270, 327/271, 327/276, 327/277, 327/284, 327/278, 327/279
• US Class Current: 327/278
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/13 Arrangements having a single output and transforming input signals into pulses delivered at desired time intervals
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 5/1565 the output pulses having a constant duty cycle

Abstract

Circuitry for adjusting the phase of an incoming periodic signal, typically a clock signal, throughout the entire period of the periodic signal. Phase adjustment circuitry has high resolution and employs only the number of delay elements in a delay chain necessary to span at least the period of the incoming signal or at least half the period in the case of dual chains receiving complementary clocks. Phase adjustment circuitry includes a delay chain of having a plurality of taps, a boundary detector for indicating when a tap is at a phase boundary of the incoming periodic signal, and selection circuitry for selecting one of the taps from the delay chain based on the boundary detector output and the selection circuitry input such that the selected tap is the desired phase adjustment of the incoming periodic signal and that the delay of the incoming signal is adjustable across its phase boundaries. Phase interpolation between the taps of the delay chain is employed to increase the resolution of the adjustment to the periodic signal. Duty cycle correction of the input clock and the selected output clock is employed to improve accuracy.

Claims

1. A circuit for adjusting the phase of an incoming periodic signal comprising:

a delay chain, coupled to receive said incoming periodic signal and having a plurality of taps;

a desired delay adjustment input;

a boundary detector coupled to a plurality of said taps and configured to indicate at the boundary detector output which tap is at a specified signal transition of said incoming periodic signal; and

a selection circuit, coupled to said taps, said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector, said selection circuit being configured to select a tap based on said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector output.

2. The circuit of claim 1 wherein said delay chain includes only a number of delay elements necessary to span one period of a predefined slowest incoming periodic signal.

3. The circuit of claim 1 further comprising:

a blender circuit, coupled to said taps, and configured to phase blend taps from a pair of selected outputs of the delay chain.

4. The circuit of claim 3 wherein said blender circuit includes:

a first inverter connected to a first tap of said plurality of taps;

a second inverter connected to a second tap of said plurality of taps; and

a third inverter having an input coupled to outputs of said first and second inverters, said third inverter producing a blended phase at its output.

5. The circuit of claim 1 wherein said boundary detector comprises:

a plurality of edge-clocked storage elements, each storage element being coupled to one of said taps, the outputs of said storage elements providing a thermometer code.

6. A circuit for adjusting the phase of an incoming periodic signal comprising:

a delay chain, coupled to receive said incoming periodic signal and having a plurality of taps, wherein said delay chain comprises a pair of first and second delay chains, each delay chain spanning at least half a period of said incoming periodic signal, said first delay chain receiving the incoming periodic signal and the second delay chain receiving a complement of the incoming periodic signal;

a desired delay adjustment input;

a boundary detector coupled to a plurality of said taps and configured to indicate at the boundary detector output which tap is at a specified phase boundary of said incoming periodic signal; and

a selection circuit, coupled to said taps, said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector, said selection circuit being configured to select a tap based on said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector output.

7. The circuit of claim 6 further comprising:

a blender circuit, coupled to said taps, and configured to phase blend signals from a pair of selected taps, said pair including a tap from each of said first and second delay chains.

8. A circuit for adjusting the phase of an incoming periodic signal comprising:

a delay chain, coupled to receive said incoming periodic signal and having a plurality of taps;

a desired delay adjustment input;

a boundary detector coupled to a plurality of said taps and configured to indicate at the boundary detector output which tap is at a specified phase boundary of said incoming periodic signal;

a selection circuit, coupled to said taps, said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector, said selection circuit being configured to select a tap based on said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector output; and

a duty cycle correction circuit, coupled to the selection circuit.

9. The circuit of claim 8 wherein said duty cycle correction circuit varies a pull-up bias voltage and a pull-down bias voltage connected to the selection circuit.

10. The circuit of claim 8 wherein said selection circuit comprises a multi-level multiplexer, and said duty cycle correction circuit is connected to provide a portion of a duty cycle correction to each of a plurality of levels of said multi-level multiplexer.

11. A circuit for delay adjusting an incoming periodic signal, comprising:

a delay chain having a plurality of output taps and an input for receiving the incoming periodic signal, the delay chain producing at the output taps a set of increasingly delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal, the delayed versions spanning at least the period of the incoming periodic signal;

a boundary detector, coupled to receive the incoming periodic signal and coupled to the taps, the boundary detector generating a signal transition indication at a boundary detector output in response to the incoming periodic signal, the signal transition indication occurring when a signal at one of the taps is adjacent a signal transition of the incoming signal; and

a selection circuit, coupled to (i) a selection input providing selection information specifying a desired delay adjustment of the incoming periodic signal, (ii) the output taps of the delay chain, and (iii) the boundary detector output, the selection circuit selecting as an output the signal of one of the taps in response to the selection information and the signal transition indication, such that the delay of the incoming signal is adjustable across its phase boundaries.

12. A circuit for delay adjusting an incoming periodic signal, comprising:

a delay chain having a plurality of output taps and an input receiving the incoming periodic signal, the delay chain producing at the taps a set of increasingly delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal, the delayed versions spanning the period of the incoming periodic signal;

a boundary detector having inputs for receiving the incoming periodic signal and the signals at the taps, the boundary detector generating a signal transition indication when a signal at one of the taps is adjacent a signal transition of the incoming periodic signal;

a first selection circuit having (i) an input for receiving selection input information specifying a delay adjustment of the incoming periodic signal and (ii) an input for receiving the signal transition indication, the first selection circuit selecting two from the set of delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal based on the signal transition indication and the selection input information;

a blender circuit having inputs for receiving (i) the two selected and (ii) delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal, the blender circuit producing a set of interpolated outputs which span a delay between the two selected, delayed versions of the incoming signal; and

a second selection circuit having inputs receiving the selection input information, the second selection circuit selecting one of the interpolated outputs based on the selection input information and for providing the delay adjusted periodic signal as the selected one of the interpolated outputs.

13. A delay lock loop circuit for an incoming periodic signal, comprising:

a delay circuit including

a delay chain, coupled to receive said incoming periodic signal and having a plurality of taps,

a desired delay adjustment input,

a boundary detector coupled to a plurality of said taps and configured to indicate at a boundary detector output which tap is at a specified phase boundary of said incoming periodic signal, and

a selection circuit, coupled to said taps, said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector, said selection circuit being configured to select a tap based on said desired delay adjustment input and said boundary detector output;

a phase detector coupled between an input and an output of said delay circuit; and

an counter having an output coupled to said desired delay adjustment input, a first input coupled to said phase detector and a second input coupled to said boundary detector output.

14. The circuit of claim 13 further comprising:

a filter coupled between said phase detector and said counter.

15. A method for delaying an incoming periodic signal, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the incoming periodic signal and producing a set of increasingly delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal, the delayed versions spanning at least the period of the incoming periodic signal;

generating a signal transition indication when one of the delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal is adjacent a signal transition of the incoming periodic signal;

receiving selection input information specifying a delay adjustment of the incoming periodic signal; and

selecting one of the delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal based on the selection input information and the signal transition indication, such that the delay of the incoming signal is adjustable across its phase boundaries.

16. A method for delaying an incoming periodic signal, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the incoming periodic signal and producing at least one set of increasingly delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal, the delayed versions spanning the period of the incoming periodic signal;

generating a signal transition indication when one of the delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal is adjacent a signal transition of the incoming periodic signal;

receiving selection input information specifying a delay adjustment of the incoming periodic signal; and

selecting two delayed versions of the incoming periodic signal based on the signal transition indication and the selection input information;

producing a set of interpolated outputs which span a delay between the two selected, delayed versions of the incoming signal; and

selecting one of the interpolated outputs based on the selection input information.