Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Chao-Chieh Li

Robert Bogdan Staszewski

Min-Shueh Yuan

Chia-Chun Liao

Ruey-Bin Sheen

Yu-Tso Lin

Chih-hsien Chang

Wen-Yuan Tsai

Chih-Hsien Chang

Shyh-An Chi

Ying-Yu Hsu

An integrated circuit device includes a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), two charge-sharing capacitors, two charge-sharing switches, two pre-charge switches, and two DACs. The DCO has a first inverter and a second inverter. A first charge-sharing capacitor has a first terminal coupled to an input terminal of the first inverter through a first charge-sharing switch. A first DAC has an output terminal coupled to the first terminal of the first charge-sharing capacitor through a first pre-charge switch. A second charge-sharing capacitor has a first terminal coupled to an input terminal or an output terminal of the second inverter through a second charge-sharing switch. A second DAC has an output terminal coupled to the first terminal of the second charge-sharing capacitor through a second pre-charge switch.

Methods and apparatus of charge-sharing locking with digital controlled oscillators

A frequency generator is disclosed. The frequency generator is for generating an oscillator clock according to a reference clock, and the frequency generator is used in a frequency hopping system that switches a carrier frequency among a plurality of channels, and the carrier frequency further carries a modulation frequency for data transmission. The frequency generator includes: a frequency hopping and modulation control unit, arranged for generating a current channel according to a channel hopping sequence and a frequency command word (FCW) based on the reference clock, a digital-controlled oscillator (DCO), arranged for to generating the oscillator clock according to an oscillator tuning word (OTW) obtained according to the estimated DCO normalization value. An associated method is also disclosed.

Frequency generator and associated method

Apparatus, circuits and methods for clock generation are disclosed herein. In some embodiments, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus includes: a first transistor pair electrically coupled to a pair of output nodes; a second transistor pair electrically coupled to the pair of output nodes; and an inductive unit electrically coupled between the output nodes and electrically coupled between gates of the first transistor pair. The inductive unit comprises: a first inductive element electrically coupled to one gate of the first transistor pair; and a second inductive element electrically coupled to one of the output nodes. The first inductive element and the second inductive element are configured to be magnetically coupled to each other.

Apparatus, circuits and methods for clock generation

A frequency generator is disclosed. The frequency generator is for generating an oscillator clock according to a reference clock, and the frequency generator is used in a frequency hopping system that switches a carrier frequency among a plurality of channels, and the carrier frequency further carries a modulation frequency for data transmission. The frequency generator includes: a frequency hopping and modulation control unit, arranged for generating a current channel according to a channel hopping sequence and a frequency command word (FCW) based on the reference clock, a digital-controlled oscillator (DCO), arranged for to generating the oscillator clock according to an oscillator tuning word (OTW) Obtained according to the estimated DCO normalization value. An associated method is also disclosed.

An oscillator includes an oscillator circuit and a voltage circuit. The oscillator circuit includes a first transistor. The voltage circuit is configured to, in a small signal mode, provide a voltage swing at a source of the first transistor, a gate-to-source voltage of the first transistor being associated with whether the oscillator is able to generate an oscillator signal.

Clock generator

Oscillator and clock generator

A frequency generator is disclosed. The frequency generator is for generating an oscillator clock according to a reference clock, and the frequency generator is used in a frequency hopping system that switches a carrier frequency among a plurality of channels, and the carrier frequency further carries a modulation frequency for data transmission. The frequency generator includes: a frequency hopping and modulation control unit arranged for generating a current channel according to a channel hopping sequence and a frequency command word (FCW) based on the reference clock, wherein the modulation frequency is higher than a frequency of the reference clock; a reference phase generating unit arranged for generating a reference phase according to the reference clock, the modulation clock, the first FCW, the second FCW, and the third FCW; a digital-controlled oscillator (DCO) arranged for to generating the oscillator clock according to the reference phase. An associated method is also disclosed.

A semiconductor device for simultaneous operation at two temperature ranges includes a substrate, a first transistor, and a second transistor. The substrate has a first active region and a second active region. The first transistor includes a plurality of gate stacks disposed in the first active region. The second transistor includes a plurality of gate stacks disposed in the second active region. A ratio of the number of the gate stacks of the second transistor to an area size of the second active region is less than a ratio of the number of the gate stacks of the first transistor to an area size of the first active region.

Semiconductor device for simultaneous operation at two temperature ranges

In some embodiments, a capacitor device includes a metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitor array and a varactor array configured overlapping with the MOM capacitor array. The MOM capacitor array includes a first MOM capacitor unit. The first MOM capacitor unit includes a first electrode pattern and a second electrode pattern in a first metallization layer. The first electrode pattern includes a plurality of first fingers and a first bus interconnecting the plurality of first fingers. The second electrode pattern includes a plurality of second fingers and a second bus interconnecting the plurality of second fingers. The varactor array includes a first varactor unit. The first varactor unit includes a first electrode contacting region and a second electrode contacting region. The first electrode pattern contacts the first electrode contacting region. The second electrode pattern contacts the second electrode contacting region.

Capacitor device

A device is disclosed that includes an oscillator, a frequency detector, and a selection circuit. The oscillator is configured to generate an oscillating signal. The oscillator includes a first tuning bank and a second tuning bank. The first tuning bank is configured to adjust the frequency of the oscillating signal within a first frequency band. The second tuning bank is configured to adjust the frequency of the oscillating signal within a second frequency band. The frequency detector is configured to generate a control signal according to at least one signal indicating the frequency of the oscillating signal. The selection circuit is configured to activate at least one of the first tuning bank and the second tuning bank according to the control signal.

Frequency tuning device

Structures and methods are provided for fabricating a ring oscillator including a plurality of stages. An example multi-layer structure includes a first device layer, a second device layer, and an inter-level connection structure. The first device layer includes a first transistor structure associated with a first stage of a ring oscillator. The second device layer is formed on the first device layer and includes a second transistor structure associated with a second stage of the ring oscillator. Further, the first inter-level connection structure includes one or more first conductive materials and is configured to electrically connect to the first transistor structure and the second transistor structure.

Structures and methods for ring oscillator fabrication

Among other things, one or more techniques and systems for generating a common design rule check (DRC) rule set for verification of a design layout and for generating a common dummy insertion utility for design layout processing are provided. That is, the common DRC rule set comprises a set of design rules having design rule constraint values corresponding to a restriction threshold, such as a most restrictive value. The common dummy insertion utility is used to insert dummy polygons into a design layout according to a dummy size constraint and a dummy spacing constraint. The design layout is verified as compliant with the common DRC rule set. Once verified, the design layout can be converted from a universal design layout format to a target metal scheme to create a transformed design layout. In this way, design layouts, formatted according to the universal design layout, can be transformed to other formats.

Growing community of inventors

Hsinchu, Taiwan

Chao-Chieh Li