Injection-locked phase interpolator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10014868-B1
Application number	US-201715476861-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 31, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

An example phase interpolator includes: a ring oscillator having a plurality of delay stages and a plurality of injection switches, each of the plurality of injection switches responsive to a differential reference clock signal and a first differential control signal; a supply control circuit configured to provide a regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a second differential control signal; and a ground control circuit configured to provide a regulated ground voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a second component of the second differential control signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A phase interpolator, comprising:
a ring oscillator having a plurality of delay stages and a plurality of injection switches, each of the plurality of injection switches responsive to a differential reference clock signal and a first differential control signal;
a supply control circuit configured to provide a regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a second differential control signal; and
a ground control circuit configured to provide a regulated ground voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a second component of the second differential control signal.

2. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of delay stages comprises:
first and second inverters each receiving the regulated supply voltage and the regulated ground voltage; and
a pair of cross-coupled inverters coupled between outputs of the first and second inverters.

3. The phase interpolator of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of injection switches is coupled between the outputs of the first and second inverters in a respective one of the plurality of delay stages.

4. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of injection switches comprises:
a plurality of stages coupled between first and second nodes, wherein each of the plurality of stages comprises:
first, second, and third transmission gates, the first transmission gate coupled between the first node and the second transmission gate, and the third transmission gate coupled between the second node and the second transmission gate.

5. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein the supply control circuit comprises:
a first plurality of stages coupled between a first node and a second node;
a second plurality of stages coupled between the first node and the second node;
wherein each of the first plurality of stages and the second plurality of stages includes:
a p-channel field effect transistor (FET) and a resistor, the p-channel FET having a source coupled to the first node, the resistor being coupled between a drain of the p-channel FET and the second node.

6. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein the ground control circuit comprises:
a first plurality of stages coupled between a first node and a second node;
a second plurality of stages coupled between the first node and the second node;
wherein each of the first plurality of stages and the second plurality of stages includes:
an n-channel field effect transistor (FET) and a resistor, the n-channel FET having a source coupled to the second node, the resistor being coupled between a drain of the n-channel FET and the first node.

7. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein the supply control circuit is configured to provide the regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a third differential control signal in addition to the first component of the second differential control signal, and wherein the ground control circuit is configured to provide the regulated ground voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a second component of the third differential control signal in addition to the second component of the second differential control signal.

8. The phase interpolator of claim 1 , wherein the ring oscillator is configured to divide a frequency of the differential reference clock signal by two.

9. A receiver, comprising:
sampling circuitry configured to sample an input signal based on a plurality of sampling clock signals;
a clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit configured to generate a control signal in response to data and error samples output by the sampling circuitry;
a clock generator configured to generate the plurality of sampling clock signals; and
a phase interpolator configured to provide a plurality of clock signals to the clock generator in response to the control signal from the CDR circuit, the phase interpolator comprising:
a ring oscillator having a plurality of delay stages and a plurality of injection switches, each of the plurality of injection switches responsive to a differential reference clock signal and a first differential control signal;
a supply control circuit configured to provide a regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a second differential control signal; and
a ground control circuit configured to provide a regulated ground voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a second component of the second differential control signal.

10. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of delay stages comprises:
first and second inverters each receiving the regulated supply voltage and the regulated ground voltage; and
a pair of cross-coupled inverters coupled between outputs of the first and second inverters.

11. The receiver of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of injection switches is coupled between the outputs of the first and second inverters in a respective one of the plurality of delay stages.

12. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of injection switches comprises:
a plurality of stages coupled between first and second nodes, wherein each of the plurality of stages comprises:
first, second, and third transmission gates, the first transmission gate coupled between the first node and the second transmission gate, and the third transmission gate coupled between the second node and the second transmission gate.

13. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein the supply control circuit comprises:
a first plurality of stages coupled between a first node and a second node;
a second plurality of stages coupled between the first node and the second node;
wherein each of the first plurality of stages and the second plurality of stages includes:
a p-channel field effect transistor (FET) and a resistor, the p-channel FET having a source coupled to the first node, the resistor being coupled between a drain of the p-channel FET and the second node.

14. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein the ground control circuit comprises:
a first plurality of stages coupled between a first node and a second node;
a second plurality of stages coupled between the first node and the second node;
wherein each of the first plurality of stages and the second plurality of stages includes:
an n-channel field effect transistor (FET) and a resistor, the n-channel FET having a source coupled to the second node, the resistor being coupled between a drain of the n-channel FET and the first node.

15. The receiver of claim 9 , wherein the supply control circuit is configured to provide the regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a third differential control signal in addition to the first component of the second differential control signal, and wherein the ground control circuit is configured to provide the regulated ground voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a second component of the third differential control signal in addition to the second component of the second differential control signal.

16. The receiver of claim 1 , wherein the ring oscillator is configured to divide a frequency of the differential reference clock signal by two.

17. A method of phase interpolation, comprising:
providing a differential reference clock signal and a first differential control signal to a plurality of injection switches in a ring oscillator;
providing a regulated supply voltage to the ring oscillator in response to a first component of a second differential control signal; and
providing

Assignees

• Xilinx Inc

Inventors

• Raj Mayank

Classifications

• H03L7/0995

  the oscillator comprising a ring oscillator · CPC title

• H03L2207/06

  Phase locked loops with a controlled oscillator having at least two frequency control terminals · CPC title

• H03L7/0998 Primary

  using phase interpolation · CPC title

• H04L7/0337

  Selecting between two or more discretely delayed clocks or selecting between two or more discretely delayed received code signals · CPC title

• H03L7/24 Primary

  using a reference signal directly applied to the generator · CPC title