Amplitude calibrated oscillator device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10840926-B2
Application number	US-201916503690-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2019
Priority date	Jul 6, 2018
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

An example oscillator device comprises (i) an oscillation circuit arranged for generating and outputting an oscillation signal and comprising an active circuit to ensure oscillation is maintained, (ii) a voltage-to-current conversion replica circuit of the active circuit arranged for receiving the oscillation signal and for outputting a current proportional to the oscillation signal, (iii) biasing means arranged to generate a constant bias current to activate the oscillation circuit, and (iv) subtraction means for subtracting the current proportional to the oscillation signal from the bias current, thereby obtaining a resulting current which can be used for adapting the oscillation signal's amplitude.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oscillator device comprising:
an oscillation circuit arranged for generating and outputting an oscillation signal and comprising an active circuit for maintaining oscillation of the oscillation signal;
a voltage-to-current conversion replica circuit of the active circuit arranged for receiving the oscillation signal and for outputting a current proportional to the oscillation signal;
biasing means arranged to generate a constant bias current to activate the oscillation circuit;
subtraction means for subtracting the current proportional to the oscillation signal from the bias current, thereby obtaining a resulting current; and
a process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) read-out circuit arranged for receiving the resulting current and for outputting a biasing signal in accordance with the received resulting current to the oscillation circuit, thereby adapting an amplitude of the oscillation signal.

2. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the oscillation circuit further comprises a resonant tank.

3. The oscillator device of claim 1 ; wherein the active circuit comprises a differential transconductor.

4. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the oscillation circuit further comprises a second biasing means arranged for receiving the resulting current to bias the oscillator circuit.

5. The oscillator device of claim 4 , herein the resulting current is copied to the second biasing means via a first current mirror and a second current mirror.

6. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the PVT read-out circuit is arranged for deriving a digital code representative of the received resulting current and for generating the biasing signal in accordance with the digital code.

7. The oscillator device of claim 6 , further comprising storage means for storing the digital code.

8. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the PVT read-out circuit comprises at least one of an ADC, a DAC, or a counter.

9. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the oscillator device is implemented as a class-C oscillator.

10. A frequency synthesizer circuit or clock and data recovery circuit comprising the oscillator device of claim 1 .

11. A method comprising:
generating and outputting, by an oscillation circuit, an oscillation signal, wherein the oscillation circuit comprises an active circuit for maintaining oscillation of the oscillation signal;
receiving, by a voltage-to-current conversion replica circuit of the active circuit, the oscillation signal;
outputting, by the voltage-to-current conversion replica circuit of the active circuit, a current proportional to the oscillation signal;
generating, by biasing means, a constant bias current to activate the oscillation circuit;
subtracting, by subtraction means, the current proportional to the oscillation signal from the bias current, thereby obtaining a resulting current;
receiving, by a process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) read-out circuit, the resulting current; and
using the resulting current to adapt an amplitude of the oscillation signal by outputting, by the PVT read-out circuit, a biasing signal in accordance with the received resulting current to the oscillation circuit.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the oscillation circuit further comprises a resonant tank, and wherein generating the oscillation signal comprises generating the oscillation signal using the resonant tank.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the active circuit comprises a differential transconductor, and wherein maintaining oscillation of the oscillation signal comprises using the differential transconductor to maintain oscillation of the oscillation signal.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the oscillation circuit further comprises a second biasing means, and wherein the method further comprises receiving and using, by the second biasing means, the resulting current to bias the oscillator circuit.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising copying the resulting current to the second biasing means via a first current mirror and a second current mirror.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
deriving, by the PVT read-out circuit, a digital code representative of the received resulting current; and
generating, by the PVT read-out circuit, the biasing signal in accordance with the digital code.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising storing the digital code in a data storage.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein the PVT read-out circuit comprises at least one of an ADC, a DAC, or a counter.

Assignees

• Stichting Imec Nederland

Inventors

• Wang Xiaoyan
• Salimi Kia

Classifications

• H03B5/1212 Primary

  the amplifier comprising a pair of transistors, wherein an output terminal of each being connected to an input terminal of the other, e.g. a cross coupled pair · CPC title

• H03L7/24 Primary

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

• H03B5/1278

  the parameter being an amplitude of a signal, e.g. maintaining a constant output amplitude over the frequency range · CPC title

• H03B5/364

  the amplifier comprising field effect transistors (H03B5/366 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03B5/124

  the means comprising a voltage dependent capacitance · CPC title