Transceiver circuitry with multiple phase-locked loops

• US 8,692,595 B1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Mendel, David W., Shumarayev, Sergey, Venkata, Ramanand
• Primary Examiner(s): Houston, Adam
• Application Number:
  US13/829,995
• Time in Patent Office: 390 Days
• Field of Search: 327/147, 327/156
• US Class Current: 327/156
• CPC Class Codes: H03L 7/099 concerning mainly the controlled oscillator of the loop
• 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

Abstract

An integrated circuit with at least two LC-based phase-locked loop circuits and a high-speed serial interface circuit having multiple channels is provided. Each phase-locked loop circuit may include an oscillator having a varactor and multiple inductors. The oscillator may be configured to generate signals at different frequency ranges as determined by the inductors and the varactor. The LC-based phase-locked loop circuits may be produced such that all frequency ranges together provide the continuous coverage of an octave, thereby enabling the phase-locked loop circuits to generate a clock signal with high quality factors and desirable phase noise and jitter performance at an arbitrary frequency. Since the channels of the high-speed serial interface circuit may receive a clock signal having an arbitrary frequency, the high-speed serial interface circuit may be configured to support any communications protocol.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit comprising:

a first inductor-based phase-locked loop circuit having a first output, wherein the first phase-locked loop circuit generates a first control signal in a first frequency range at the first output;

a second inductor-based phase-locked loop circuit having a second output, wherein the second phase-locked loop circuit generates a second control signal in a second frequency range at the second output, wherein the first and second frequency ranges partially overlap with respect to one another, and wherein the first and second inductor-based phase-locked loop circuits operate at different frequencies when the first inductor-based phase-locked loop circuit is operated at a given frequency in the first frequency range that does not overlap with the second frequency range; and

interconnect circuitry coupled to the first and second outputs, wherein the interconnect circuitry receives the first control signal from the first output and receives the second control signal from the second output, and wherein the interconnect circuitry is configured to select between the received signals.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a high-speed serial interface circuit having a plurality of channels, wherein each channel of the plurality of channels is coupled to at least one of the first and second outputs via the interconnect circuitry.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the integrated circuit comprises a programmable integrated circuit.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first and second control signals affects a transmission of data via a channel in the plurality of channels.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 4, wherein a first portion of the plurality of channels of the high-speed serial interface circuit is controlled by the first control signal and a second portion of the plurality of channels of the high-speed serial interface circuit is controlled by the second control signal.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the first and second frequency ranges cover a continuous frequency range.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 6, wherein the first and second inductor-based phase-locked loop circuits are configured such that an upper portion of the first frequency range overlaps with a lower portion of the second frequency range.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 6, wherein the first and second inductor-based phase-locked loop circuits are configured such that the second frequency range has an upper limit that is at least double in frequency compared to a lower limit of the first frequency range.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 7, wherein the lower portion of the second frequency range that overlaps with the upper portion of the first frequency range covers a given set of communication protocol standards supported by the high-speed serial interface circuit.

10. A high-speed serial interface circuit comprising:

first phase-locked loop circuitry configured to generate a first clock signal within first and second frequency ranges;

second phase-locked loop circuitry configured to generate a second clock signal within third and fourth frequency ranges, wherein a union of the first, second, third, and fourth frequency ranges covers a continuous frequency range, wherein the continuous frequency range comprises an upper limit and a lower limit, and wherein the upper limit is at least double in frequency compared to the lower limit; and

a plurality of channels, wherein each channel is connected to one of the first and second phase-locked loop circuitries, and wherein each channel is configured to receive a selected one of the first and second clock signals.

11. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 10, wherein the first phase-locked loop circuitry further comprises:

a plurality of inductors each having a unique inductance value.

12. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 11, wherein a subset of the first frequency range overlaps with a subset of the third frequency range.

13. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 12, wherein the second frequency range is disjoint from the fourth frequency range.

14. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 12, wherein the first and third frequency ranges cover higher frequencies than the second and fourth frequency ranges.

15. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 14, wherein a portion of the plurality of channels is coupled with the first phase-locked loop circuitry and is configured to receive the first clock signal in the first frequency range.

16. The high-speed serial interface circuit of claim 15, wherein another portion of the plurality of channels is coupled with the second phase-locked loop circuitry and is configured to receive the second clock signal in the third frequency range.

17. A method for operating high-speed serial interface circuitry having a plurality of channels and first and second phase-locked loop circuits, wherein each of the first and second phase-locked loop circuits includes a plurality of inductors, the method comprising:

with the first phase-locked loop circuit, producing first control signals in a first frequency range;

with the second phase-locked loop circuit, producing second control signals in a second frequency range, wherein the first and second frequency ranges are partially overlapping with respect to one another; and

receiving one of the first control signals in a subset of the plurality of channels.

18. The method defined in claim 17 further comprising:

receiving one of the second control signals in a second subset of the plurality of channels, wherein the first and second subsets in the plurality of channels are disjoint.

19. The method defined in claim 17, wherein the first phase-locked loop circuit is operable to produce signals from at least two disjoint frequency ranges.

20. The method defined in claim 17, wherein a union of the first and second frequency ranges covers a continuous frequency range.

21. The method defined in claim 20, wherein the continuous frequency range has an upper frequency limit and a lower frequency limit, and wherein the upper frequency limit of the continuous frequency range is at least double in frequency compared to the lower frequency limit of the continuous frequency range.