Enabling an external resistor for an oscillator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11848645-B2
Application number	US-202117509706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2021
Priority date	Apr 22, 2021
Publication date	Dec 19, 2023
Grant date	Dec 19, 2023

Abstract

In an example, a system includes an oscillator circuit on a chip. The oscillator circuit includes a charging current generator including a current mirror, an amplifier, and an on-chip resistor, where the on-chip resistor is coupled to a pin on the chip. The oscillator circuit also includes oscillator circuitry coupled to the charging current generator, where the oscillator circuitry includes a comparator, a phase generator, a first capacitor coupled to a first resistor, and a second capacitor coupled to a second resistor. The system also includes an external resistor coupled to the pin, where the external resistor is external to the chip. The system includes an external capacitor coupled to the pin, where the external capacitor is external to the chip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an oscillator circuit on a chip, wherein the oscillator circuit includes:
a charging current generator including a current mirror, an amplifier, and an on-chip resistor, wherein the on-chip resistor is coupled to the amplifier and to a pin on the chip, wherein the current mirror comprises a first transistor and a second transistor coupled together in series and a third transistor and a fourth transistor coupled together in series, the second transistor coupled to a first current output of the current mirror and the fourth transistor coupled to a second current output of the current mirror, a control terminal of the first transistor coupled to the first current output of the current mirror, wherein the first current output is coupled to a drain terminal of a fifth transistor, and the fifth transistor is coupled to the amplifier and to the on-chip resistor; and
oscillator circuitry coupled to the second current output, wherein the oscillator circuitry includes a comparator, a phase generator, a first capacitor coupled to a first resistor, and a second capacitor coupled to a second resistor.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the charging current generator includes the fifth transistor having a gate coupled to an output of the amplifier, a source coupled to the on-chip resistor and to an input of the amplifier.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the current mirror is configured to provide a charging current to the oscillator circuitry.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first resistor and the second resistor are variable resistors.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the first resistor and the second resistor are configured to be trimmed to compensate for a process variation.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first resistor is coupled in series to the first capacitor, and the second resistor is coupled in series to the second capacitor.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the oscillator circuitry further comprises:
one or more switches configured to charge and discharge the first capacitor and the second capacitor.

8. A system, comprising:
an oscillator circuit on a chip, wherein the oscillator circuit includes:
a charging current generator including a current mirror, an amplifier, and an on-chip resistor, wherein the on-chip resistor is coupled to a pin on the chip, wherein the current mirror comprises a first current output and a second current output, wherein the first current output is coupled to a drain terminal of a transistor, and the transistor is coupled to the amplifier and to the on-chip resistor; and
oscillator circuitry coupled to the second current output of the current mirror, wherein the oscillator circuitry includes a comparator, a phase generator, a first capacitor coupled to a first resistor, and a second capacitor coupled to a second resistor;

an external resistor coupled to the pin, wherein the external resistor is external to the chip; and
an external capacitor coupled to the pin, wherein the external capacitor is external to the chip.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the external capacitor is coupled in parallel to the external resistor.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the charging current generator includes a transistor having a gate coupled to an output of the amplifier, a source coupled to the on-chip resistor and to an input of the amplifier, and a drain coupled to the current mirror.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the current mirror is configured to provide a charging current to the oscillator circuitry.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first resistor and the second resistor are configured to be trimmed to compensate for a process variation.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the oscillator circuitry further comprises:
one or more switches configured to charge and discharge the first capacitor and the second capacitor.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the external capacitor is configured to filter noise on the pin.

15. The system of claim 8 , wherein a frequency of the oscillator circuit is inversely proportional to a size of the external resistor.

16. A method, comprising:
coupling a pin of an oscillator chip to an internal resistor and to an external resistor;
generating a current for an oscillator, wherein the current is generated with an amplifier coupled to the internal resistor and coupled to a current mirror, the current mirror comprising a first current output and a second current output, the first current output coupled to a drain of a transistor, and the transistor coupled to the amplifier and to the internal resistor;
charging a first capacitor with the current on the second current output to produce a first voltage;
responsive to the first voltage reaching a predetermined value, activating a first switch to charge a second capacitor with the current to produce a second voltage; and
responsive to the second voltage reaching the predetermined value, activating a second switch to charge the first capacitor.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
providing the first voltage to a comparator to determine that the first voltage has reached the predetermined value.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
providing an output of the comparator to a phase generator, wherein an output of the phase generator is configured to activate the first switch.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein a frequency of the oscillator is inversely proportional to a size of the external resistor.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein an external capacitor is coupled in parallel to the external resistor.

Assignees

• Texas Instruments Inc

Inventors

• Agarwal Nitin
• Roy Aniruddha
• Narayana Reddy Preetham

Classifications

• H03B5/24

  active element in amplifier being semiconductor device (H03B5/26 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03B5/20 Primary

  with frequency-determining element comprising resistance and either capacitance or inductance, e.g. phase-shift oscillator · CPC title

• H03K3/0231 Primary

  Astable circuits {(H03K3/0315 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• H03B2200/0014

  Structural aspects of oscillators · CPC title

• H03B2200/0034

  including a buffer amplifier · CPC title