The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 11, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 21, 1998
Thomas Clark Bryan, Encinitas, CA (US);
Allen Carl Merrill, Encinitas, CA (US);
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
An integrated circuit complementary metal-oxide silicon (CMOS) voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) includes a plurality of variable delay elements, connected in a ring configuration, each variable delay element including a pair of parallel connected differential CMOS sections. The parallel-connected differential CMOS sections of each variable delay element are controlled by a differential control voltage whose magnitude sets relative levels of operation of the two differential sections of each variable delay element. These relative levels of operation determine the delay through the variable delay element. The control circuit provides the differential control voltage. The control circuit includes a first section for generating a control current and a pair of current mirror sections that divide the control current, generating a pair of differential control signal components as VGS potentials of a pair of CMOS transistors configured as current mirrors.