Resonator having distributed transconductance elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017201215-A1
Application number	US-201614993217-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 12, 2016
Priority date	Feb 25, 2014
Publication date	Jul 13, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method includes forming a resonator comprising a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator, selecting a resonant frequency for the resonator, and distributing two or more transconductance elements within the resonator based on the selected resonant frequency. Distributing the two or more transconductance elements may include non-uniformly distributing the two or more transconductance elements within the resonator.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus comprising:
a resonator comprising:
a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator; and
a corresponding plurality of transconductance elements distributed within respective distances among the switched impedances;
wherein the resonator has a given desired resonant frequency and a given amplitude of response; and wherein combined pairs of the switched impedances and transconductance elements have respective parasitic resonant frequencies which are higher than the given desired resonant frequency and have respective amplitudes of response which are lower than the given amplitude of response.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus is a voltage controlled oscillator.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the voltage controlled oscillator comprises at least one of a wide-tuning range oscillator, a digitally controlled oscillator and a millimeter wave oscillator.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the apparatus is an active filter.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the active filter comprises at least one of a switched impedance filter, a switched capacitor transconductance filter and a programmable narrowband band select filter.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the switched impedances comprise a capacitor array.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein:
one or more interconnects between capacitors in the capacitor array contribute respective parasitic inductances in the resonator; and
the transconductance elements are distributed within the capacitor array to reduce the parasitic inductances of the one or more interconnects.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:
the transconductance elements have associated therewith different transconductance values;
the switched impedances comprise capacitors having associated therewith different capacitance values; and
wherein the transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator such that the transconductance values are proportional to the capacitance values.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 wherein a given distance between a given switched impedance and a given transconductance element is controlled based on a relationship between the capacitance value of the given switched impedance and the transconductance value of the given transconductance element.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein:
the transconductance elements have associated therewith different transconductance values;
the switched impedances comprise inductors having associated therewith different inductance values; and
wherein the transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator such that the transconductance values are proportional to the inductance values.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 wherein a given distance between a given switched impedance and a given transconductance element is controlled based on a relationship between the inductance value of the given switched impedance and the transconductance value of the given transconductance element.

12 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the transconductance elements are distributed based on a target narrowband bandpass transfer function.

13 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein an operating frequency of the resonator is 20 gigahertz or greater.

14 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein physical dimensions of the apparatus are greater than 1/100 of a wavelength of the apparatus.

15 . The apparatus of claim 1 wherein physical dimensions of the apparatus are greater than 1/1000 of a wavelength of the apparatus.

16 . An integrated circuit comprising:
a resonator comprising:
a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator; and
a corresponding plurality of transconductance elements distributed within respective distances among the switched impedances;
wherein the resonator has a given desired resonant frequency and a given amplitude of response; and wherein combined pairs of the switched impedances and transconductance elements have respective parasitic resonant frequencies which are higher than the given desired resonant frequency and have respective amplitudes of response which are lower than the given amplitude of response.

17 . A voltage controlled oscillator comprising the integrated circuit of claim 16 .

18 . An active filter comprising the integrated circuit of claim 16 .

19 . A method comprising:
forming a resonator comprising a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator; and forming a plurality of transconductance elements within respective distances among the switched impedances; wherein the resonator has a given desired resonant frequency and a given amplitude of response; and wherein combined pairs of the switched impedances and transconductance elements have respective parasitic resonant frequencies which are higher than the given desired resonant frequency and have respective amplitudes of response which are lower than the given amplitude of response.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ferriss Mark A
• Friedman Daniel J
• Rylyakov Alexander V
• Sadhu Bodhisatwa
• Valdes Garcia Alberto

Classifications

• H03B5/00

  Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input (H03B9/00, H03B15/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03B5/12

  active element in amplifier being semiconductor device (H03B5/14 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03L7/093

  using special filtering or amplification characteristics in the loop (H03L7/087 - H03L7/091 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03B5/1265 Primary

  switched capacitors · CPC title

• H03H11/46

  One-port networks · CPC title