High Current Matching over Full-Swing and Low-Glitch Charge Pump Circuit for PLLs

A high current matching over full-swing and low-glitch charge pump (CP) circuit is proposed. The current of the CP is split into two identical branches having one-half the original current. The two branches are connected in source-coupled structure, and a two-stage amplifier is used to regulate the common-source voltage for the minimum current mismatch. The proposed CP is designed in TSMC 0.18µm CMOS technology with a power supply of 1.8 V. SpectreRF based simulation results show the mismatch between the current source and the current sink is less than 0.1% while the current is 40 µA and output swing is 1.32 V ranging from 0.2 V to 1.52 V. Moreover, the transient output current presents nearly no glitches. The simulation results verify the usage of the CP in PLLs with the maximum tuning range from the voltage-controlled oscillator, as well as the low power supply applications

Noise shaping Asynchronous SAR ADC based time to digital converter

Time-to-digital converters (TDCs) are key elements for the digitization of timing information in modern mixed-signal circuits such as digital PLLs, DLLs, ADCs, and on-chip jitter-monitoring circuits. Especially, high-resolution TDCs are increasingly employed in on-chip timing tests, such as jitter and clock skew measurements, as advanced fabrication technologies allow fine on-chip time resolutions. Its main purpose is to quantize the time interval of a pulse signal or the time interval between the rising edges of two clock signals. Similarly to ADCs, the performance of TDCs are also primarily characterized by Resolution, Sampling Rate, FOM, SNDR, Dynamic Range and DNL/INL. This work proposes and demonstrates 2nd order noise shaping Asynchronous SAR ADC based TDC architecture with highest resolution of 0.25 ps among current state of art designs with respect to post-layout simulation results. This circuit is a combination of low power/High Resolution 2nd Order Noise Shaped Asynchronous SAR ADC backend with simple Time to Amplitude converter (TAC) front-end and is implemented in 40nm CMOS technology. Additionally, special emphasis is given on the discussion on various current state of art TDC architectures.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Low-Jitter Clock Multiplication: a Comparioson between PLLs and DLLs

This paper shows that, for a given power budget, a practical phase-locked loop (PLL)-based clock multiplier generates less jitter than a delay-locked loop (DLL) equivalent. This is due to the fact that the delay cells in a PLL ring-oscillator can consume more power per cell than their counterparts in the DLL. We can show that this effect is stronger than the notorious jitter accumulation effect that occurs in the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) of a PLL. First, an analysis of the stochastic-output jitter of the architectures, due to the most important noise sources, is presented. Then, another important source of jitter in a DLL-based clock multiplier is treated, namely the stochastic mismatch in the delay cells which compose the DLL voltage-controlled delay line (VCDL). An analysis is presented that relates the stochastic spread of the delay of the cells to the output jitter of the clock multiplier. A circuit design technique, called impedance level scaling, is then presented which allows the designer to optimize the noise and mismatch behavior of a circuit, independently from other specifications such as speed and linearity. Applying this technique on a delay cell design yields a direct tradeoff between noise induced jitter and power usage, and between stochastic mismatch induced jitter and power usage

Spur-reduction techniques for PLLs using sub-sampling phase detection

A low-spur sub-sampling PLL exploits an amplitude-controlled charge pump which is immune to current source mismatch. A DLL/PLL dual-loop architecture and buffering reduces the disturbance of the sampler to the VCO. The 2.2GHz PLL in 0.18-μm CMOS achieves -121dBc/Hz in-band phase noise at 200kHz and consumes 3.8mW. The worst-case reference spur measured on 20 samples is -80dBc.\u

Fast Digital Calibration of Static Phase Offset in Charge-Pump Phase-Locked Loops

Mismatches within the charge pump (CP) deteriorate the spectral perfor- mance of the CP-PLL output signal resulting in a static phase offset. Classical analog approaches to reducing this offset consume large silicon area and increase gate leak- age mismatch. For ultra-deep-submicron (UDSM) technologies where gate leakage in- creases dramatically, reduction of static phase offset through digital calibration becomes more favorable. This paper presents a novel technique which digitally calibrates static phase offset down to < 10 ps for a PLL operating at 4.8 GHz, designed using a 1V 90nm CMOS process. Calibration is completed in only 2 steps, making the proposed technique suitable for systems requiring frequent switching such as frequency hopping systems commonly used in today’s wireless communication systems

Switched Capacitor Loop Filter 와 Source Switched Charge Pump 를 이용한 Phase-Locked Loop 의 설계

학위논문(석사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2022.2. 정덕균.This thesis proposes a low integrated RMS jitter and low reference spur phase locked loop (PLL) using a switched capacitor loop filter and source switched charge pump. The PLL employs a single tunable charge pump which reduces current mis match across wide control voltage range and charge sharing effect to get high perfor mance of reference spur level. The switched capacitor loop filter is adopted to achieve insensitivity to temperature, supply voltage, and process variation of a resistor. The proposed PLL covers a wide frequency range and has a low integrated RMS jitter and low reference spur level to target various interface standards. The mechanism of switched capacitor loop filter and source switched charge pump is analyzed. Fabricated in 40 nm CMOS technology, the proposed analog PLL provides four phase for a quarter-rate transmitter, consumes 6.35 mW at 12 GHz using 750 MHz reference clock, and occupies an 0.008 mm2 with an integrated RMS jitter (10 kHz to 100 MHz) of 244.8 fs. As a result, the PLL achieves a figure of merit (FoM) of -244.2 dB with high power efficiency of 0.53 mW/GHz, and reference spur level is -60.3 dBc.본 논문에서는 낮은 RMS jitter 와 낮은 레퍼런스 스퍼를 가지며 스위치축전기 루프 필터와 소스 스위치 전하 펌프를 이용한 PLL 을 제안한다. 제안된 PLL 은 레퍼런스 스퍼의 성능을 위해 넓은 컨트롤 전압의 범위 동안 전류의 오차를 줄여주고 전하 공유 효과를 줄여주는 하나의 조절 가능한 전하 펌프를 사용하였다. 저항의 온도, 공급 전압, 공정 변화에 따른 민감도를 낮추기 위해 스위치 축전기 루프 필터가 사용되었다. 다양한 인터페이스 표준을 지원하기 위해 제안하는 PLL 은 넓은 주파수 범위를 지원하고 낮은 RMS jitter 와 낮은 레퍼런스 스퍼를 갖는다. 스위치 축전기 루프 필터와 소스 스위치 전하 펌프의 동작 원리에 대해 분석하였다. 40 nm CMOS 공정으로 제작되었으며, 제안된 회로는 quarter-rate 송신기를 위해 4 개의 phase 를 만들어내며 750 MHz 의 레퍼런스 클락을 이용하여 12 GHz 에서 6.35 mW 의 power 를 소모하고 0.008mm2 의 유효 면적을 차지하고 10 kHz 부터 100 MHz 까지 적분했을 때의 RMS jitter 값은 244.8fs 이다. 제안하는 PLL 은 -244.2 dB 의 FoM, 0.53 mW/GHz 의 power 효율을 달성했으며 레퍼런스 스퍼는 -60.3 dBc 이다CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 MOTIVATION 1 1.2 THESIS ORGANIZATION 3 CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUNDS 4 2.1 CLOCK GENERATION IN SERIAL LINK 4 2.2 PLL BUILDING BLOCKS 6 2.2.1 OVERVIEW 6 2.2.2 PHASE FREQUENCY DETECTOR 7 2.2.3 CHARGE PUMP AND LOOP FILTER 9 2.2.4 VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR 10 2.2.5 FREQUENCY DIVIDER 13 2.3 PLL LOOP ANALYSIS 15 CHAPTER 3 PLL WITH SWITCHED CAPACITOR LOOP FILTER AND SOURCE SWITCHED CHARGE PUMP 19 3.1 DESIGN CONSIDERATION 19 3.2 PROPOSED ARCHITECTURE 21 3.3 CIRCUIT IMPLEMENTATION 23 3.3.1 PHASE FREQUENCY DETECTOR 23 3.3.2 SOURCE SWITCHED CHARGE PUMP 26 3.3.3 SWITCHED CAPACITOR LOOP FILTER 30 3.3.4 VOLTAGE CONTROLLED OSCILLATOR 35 3.3.5 POST VCO AMPLIFIER 39 3.3.6 FREQUENCY DIVIDER 40 CHAPTER 4 MEASUREMENT RESULTS 43 4.1 CHIP PHOTOMICROGRAPH 43 4.2 MEASUREMENT SETUP 45 4.3 MEASURED PHASE NOISE AND REFERENCE SPUR 47 4.4 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY 50 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY 53 초 록 58석

Phase Frequency Detector and Charge Pump for Low Jitter PLL Applications

In this paper a new technique is presented to improve the jitter performance of conventional phase frequency detectors by completely removing the unnecessary one-shot pulse. This technique uses a variable pulse-height circuit to control the unnecessary one-shot pulse height. In addition, a novel charge-pump circuit with perfect current-matching characteristics is used to improve the output jitter performance of conventional charge pumps. This circuit is composed of a pair of symmetrical pump circuits to obtain a good current matching. As a result, the proposed charge-pump circuit has perfect current-matching characteristics, wide output range, no glitch output current, and no jump output voltage. In order to verify such operation, circuit simulation is performed using 0.18 μm CMOS process parameters

Spur Reduction Techniques for Phase-Locked Loops Exploiting A Sub-Sampling Phase Detector

This paper presents phase-locked loop (PLL) reference-spur reduction design techniques exploiting a sub-sampling phase detector (SSPD) (which is also referred to as a sampling phase detector). The VCO is sampled by the reference clock without using a frequency divider and an amplitude controlled charge pump is used which is inherently insensitive to mismatch. The main remaining source of the VCO reference spur is the periodic disturbance of the VCO by the sampling at the reference frequency. The underlying VCO sampling spur mechanisms are analyzed and their effect is minimized by using dummy samplers and isolation buffers. A duty-cycle-controlled reference buffer and delay-locked loop (DLL) tuning are proposed to further reduce the worst case spur level. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the\ud proposed spur reduction techniques, a 2.21 GHz PLL is designed and fabricated in 0.18 m CMOS technology. While using a high loop-bandwidth-to-reference-frequency ratio of 1/20, the reference spur measured from 20 chips is 80 dBc. The PLL consumes 3.8 mW while the in-band phase noise is 121 dBc/Hz at 200 kHz and the output jitter integrated from 10 kHz to 100 MHz is 0.3 ps rms