Oscillator device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9444475-B2
Application number	US-201514884331-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Oct 16, 2014
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

An oscillator device comprises an oscillation circuit configured to generate and provide an oscillating signal. A first biasing circuit is configured to derive a bias current signal in accordance with a control signal and apply the bias current signal to the oscillation circuit to control the amplitude level of the oscillating signal. A reference generating circuit is configured to generate a reference voltage signal and comprises a second biasing circuit configured to derive a reference bias current signal in accordance with the control signal. A comparison circuit is configured to determine an error signal by comparing a voltage signal at an output of the first biasing circuit with the reference voltage signal observed at an output of the second biasing circuit. A controller is configured to determine the control signal related to the error signal and provide the control signal to the first biasing circuit and the second biasing circuit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An oscillator device comprising:
an oscillation circuit configured to generate and provide an oscillating signal;
a first biasing circuit configured to derive a bias current signal in accordance with a control signal and to apply the bias current signal to the oscillation circuit;
a reference generating circuit configured to generate a reference voltage signal, and comprising a second biasing circuit configured to derive a reference bias current signal in accordance with the control signal;
a comparison circuit configured to receive directly at least a voltage signal observed at an output of the first biasing circuit, and wherein the comparison circuit is configured to determine an error signal by comparing the voltage signal observed at the output of the first biasing circuit with the reference voltage signal observed at an output of the second biasing circuit, the voltage signal being indicative of an amplitude level of the oscillating signal and the reference voltage signal being indicative of a desired oscillator amplitude; and
a controller configured to determine the control signal from the error signal and provide the control signal to the first biasing circuit and the second biasing circuit, wherein the bias current signal can be adjusted to control the amplitude level of the oscillating signal.

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

3. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the first biasing circuit and the second biasing circuit comprise a current source.

4. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein a first rail voltage is applied to the oscillation circuit.

5. The oscillator device of claim 4 , wherein a second rail voltage is applied to the first biasing circuit.

6. The oscillator device of claim 1 , further comprising an interfacing circuit configured to receive the control signal and provide an adapted control signal to at least the first biasing circuit.

7. The oscillator device of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to run a control algorithm.

8. The oscillator device of claim 7 , wherein the control algorithm is a PID control algorithm.

9. The oscillator device of claim 1 , further comprising an analog-to-digital converter for digitizing the error voltage signal and a digital-to-analog converter for converting the control signal.

10. The oscillator device of claim 1 , further comprising a low-pass filter for filtering the voltage signal.

Assignees

• Stichting Imec Nederland

Inventors

• Huang Xiongchuan

Classifications

• H03B5/1215

  the current source or degeneration circuit being in common to both transistors of the pair, e.g. a cross-coupled long-tailed pair · CPC title

• H03B5/1212

  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

• H03K5/082

  with an adaptive threshold · CPC title

• H03L7/24 Primary

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

• H03B5/1228

  the amplifier comprising one or more field effect transistors · CPC title