National Semiconductor Corporation

Craig M Davis

David A Byrd

Richard R Rasmussen

Gary W Tietz

Edson Wayne Porter

Jeff M Huard

David Lindsay Broughton

A gain control for a phase locked loop circuit is provided. In the phase-locked loop circuit, a voltage controlled oscillator generates a reference signal responsive to the level of a tuning voltage. A phase detector generates the tuning voltage update, which is indicative of a phase relationship between the reference signal and an input signal. A feedback circuit detects the tuning voltage and generates an adjustment signal in response. The adjustment signal is then used to adjust the loop gain at any specific tuning voltage. In a specific example, the adjustment signal is used to adjust the current gain of the phase detector in a manner that is complementary to the non-linear voltage gain of the voltage-controlled oscillator.

Method and circuit for improving lock-time performance for a phase-locked loop

A fractional-N phase-lock loop (PLL) with a delay line loop (DLL) having a self-calibrating fractional delay element which controls the PLL feedback signal in such a manner that the delay intervals for the feedback signal are: increased when small fractional divisors (&lt;1/2) causing a lagging phase relationship or large fractional divisors (&gt;1/2) causing a leading phase relationship are sensed; and decreased when small fractional divisors (&lt;1/2) causing a leading phase relationship or large fractional divisors (&gt;1/2) causing a lagging phase relationship are sensed.

Fractional-N phase-lock loop with delay line loop having

A phase lock loop (PLL) circuit for controlling an oscillator includes a phase comparator, a loop filter, a reference converter and a feedback converter whose performance characteristics are dynamically controlled so as to provide a phase-locked output signal with both high frequency stepping resolution and low phase locking time. The phase comparator compares the relative phases of the reference and feedback signals, and outputs a phase difference signal representing such phase comparison. The loop filter, in accordance with a filter bandwidth dynamically selected by a filter control signal, filters the phase difference signal to provide a frequency control signal for a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO). The reference converter is a programmable frequency divider which, in accordance with a reference proportionality factor dynamically selected by a reference control signal, reduces the frequency of the PLL reference signal frequency used by the phase comparator. The feedback converter is another programmable frequency divider which, in accordance with a feedback proportionality factor dynamically determined by a feedback control signal, reduces the frequency of the VCO feedback signal frequency used by the phase comparator. Each combination of a selected filter bandwidth, a reference proportionality factor and a feedback proportionality factor corresponds to a different time interval within which phase lock is achieved.

Phase lock loop with selectable frequency switching time

Generation of clock waveforms which have a frequency, phase offset, and duty cycle that is relative to a periodic reference signal. The outputs of a voltage controlled ring oscillator are directly applied to drive the inputs of a programmable AND, fixed OR array (PAL) to produce pulses of varied and phase offset and duty cycle. The phase offset has a resolution of one nanosecond. Additionally, the pulses generated can be ORed together within the to produce clock waveforms that are multiples of the input frequency.

One nanosecond resolution programmable waveform generator

A phase-locked loop having automatic internal phase offset calibration includes a voltage-controlled oscillator circuit for generating a recovered data signal in response to an error signal. A phase detector determines the phase difference between the recovered data signal and a reference data signal. The phase-locked loop further includes a charge pump circuit, coupled to the phase detector, for generating an error signal in response to the detected phase difference. The charge pump circuit includes first and second pump generators for respectively providing first and second sets of pump signals, with the pump generators being interconnected to facilitate generation of the error signal. The phase-locked loop is designed to alternate between operation in phase correction and phase calibration cycles. In each phase correction cycle an error signal is synthesized as described above on the basis of the most recent phase comparison. During each intervening phase calibration cycle a calibration network operates to adjust the second charge pump generator such that the first and second sets of pump signals are precisely balanced when the reference and recovered data signals have a predefined phase relationship. In a preferred embodiment the predefined phase relationship corresponds to that of the reference and recovered data signals being matched in phase. In this way inconsistencies in the operating characteristics of the pump generators are precluded from engendering steady-state phase alignment errors between the reference and recovered waveforms.

Phase-locked loop with automatic phase offset calibration

The present invention provides a CMOS output buffer with ECL output characteristics that allows the outputs to be terminated in any manner desired and which is not limited by the op amp settling time. The buffer establishes a bus internally for the VOH and VOL levels and then switches between the buses using transmission gates. In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the op amp's feedback path includes a P-channel device which is either identical to or, to conserve power, a carefully scaled down equivalent of the P-channel output device.

CMOS-based pseudo ECL output buffer

A system (100, 50, 300) for recovering a clock signal from a serial data signal (102) having rising (204) and falling (206) transitions. The transistions (204, 206) are detected by a transition detector (11, 12, 108, 110) which generates a transition signal (13a, 13b, 109, 111) having a first logic state when a rising (204) or falling (206) transition is detected. The system (100, 50, 300) includes a delay device (22, 120, 122) which delays the transition signal (13a, 13b, 109, 111) by a preselected time period and a gating device (24, 124, 126) responsive to the transition signal (13a, 13b, 109, 111). The gating device (24, 124, 126) is enabled by the transition signal (13a, 13b, 109, 111) when the signal is the first logic state, thereby permitting a system generated clock signal (148) to propagate to a phase comparison system (132, 134, 176, 178, G 1, G4) for comparison with the delayed transition signal (23, 128, 130). The phase comparison system (132, 134, 178, G1, G4) generate a correction signal (30) indicative of the phase difference between the compared signals (23, 25, 144, 152, 130, 154) such that the transitions in clock signal (148) generated are in synchronization with the data transitions (204, 206).

Edge transition insensitive delay line system and method

An emitter-coupled logic (ECL) gate configuration is provided that allows variations in the bias current for controlling propagation delay. The emitter coupled logic circuitry includes a plurality of input transistors having commonly-coupled emitters. The collector of each input transistor is connected to receive a control voltage. A current source is connected between the commonly-coupled emitters and ground. Circuitry, preferably a variable resistance, is connected between the collectors of the input transistors and a supply voltage. A bias voltage controls the charging current provided to the collectors of the ECL input transistors.

High frequency ECL voltage controlled ring oscillator

A phase detector and charge pump combination is disclosed for use in a digital phase locked loop system. The phase detector includes a reset circuit that responds to the charge pump condition where it is simultaneously sourcing and sinking current. The pump up and down circuits are fast acting and balanced so that minimum conduction is employed for the phase lock condition.

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Puyallup, WA, United States of America

Craig M Davis