Resonator having distributed transconductance elements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9948235-B2
Application number	US-201514926290-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2015
Priority date	Feb 25, 2014
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

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. A method comprising:
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;
wherein distributing the two or more transconductance elements comprises non-uniformly distributing the two or more transconductance elements within the resonator.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the two or more transconductance elements are non-uniformly distributed within the resonator based on magnitudes of the plurality of switched impedances.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the two or more transconductance elements have different transconductance values associated therewith.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:
the plurality of switched impedances comprise capacitors; and
distributing the two or more transconductance elements within the resonator comprises distributing the two or more transconductance elements such that the transconductance values of the two or more transconductance elements are proportional to capacitance values of the plurality of switched impedances.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein distances between the two or more transconductance elements and the plurality of switched impedances are controlled based on relationships between the transconductance values of the two or more transconductance elements and the capacitance values of the plurality of switched impedances.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein:
the plurality of switched impedances comprise inductors; and
distributing the two or more transconductance elements within the resonator comprises distributing the two or more transconductance elements such that the transconductance values of the two or more transconductance elements are proportional to inductance values of the plurality of switched impedances.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein distances between the two or more transconductance elements and the plurality of switched impedances are controlled based on relationships between the transconductance values of the two or more transconductance elements and the inductance values of the plurality of switched impedances.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the resonator comprises one or more interconnects between the plurality of switched impedances;
the one or more interconnects contribute respective parasitic inductances in the resonator; and
distributing the two or more transconductance elements within the resonator reduces the parasitic inductances of the one or more interconnects.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a resonator comprising:
a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator; and
two or more transconductance elements distributed within the resonator;

wherein the two or more transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator based on a selected resonant frequency for the resonator; and
wherein the two or more transconductance elements are non-uniformly distributed within the resonator.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the apparatus is a voltage controlled oscillator.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the apparatus is an active filter.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the two or more transconductance elements are non-uniformly distributed within the resonator based on magnitudes of the plurality of switched impedances.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein distances between the two or more transconductance elements and the plurality of switched impedances are controlled based on relationships between the transconductance values of the two or more transconductance elements and the magnitudes of the plurality of switched impedances.

14. An integrated circuit comprising:
a resonator comprising:
a plurality of switched impedances spatially distributed within the resonator; and
two or more transconductance elements distributed within the resonator;

wherein the two or more transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator based on a selected resonant frequency for the resonator; and
wherein the two or more transconductance elements are non-uniformly distributed within the resonator.

15. A voltage controlled oscillator comprising the integrated circuit of claim 14 .

16. An active filter comprising the integrated circuit of claim 14 .

17. The integrated circuit of claim 14 wherein the two or more transconductance elements are non-uniformly distributed within the resonator based on magnitudes of the plurality of switched impedances.

18. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the two or more transconductance elements have different transconductance values associated therewith.

19. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein:
the resonator comprises one or more interconnects between the plurality of switched impedances;
the one or more interconnects contribute respective parasitic inductances in the resonator; and
the two or more transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator to reduce the parasitic inductances of the one or more interconnects.

20. The integrated circuit of claim 14 wherein:
the resonator comprises one or more interconnects between the plurality of switched impedances;
the one or more interconnects contribute respective parasitic inductances in the resonator; and
the two or more transconductance elements are distributed within the resonator to reduce the parasitic inductances of the one or more interconnects.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H03H19/004

  Switched capacitor networks · CPC title

• H03H11/0422

  using transconductance amplifiers, e.g. gmC filters · 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

• H03H11/0472

  Current or voltage controlled filters · CPC title