IP Library › Granted Patent US 12695422
Granted Patent B2
US 12695422 · App. 18/943,506 · Granted Jul 28, 2026

Electronic oscillator with independent controls of variable capacities

Inventors: Michel Ayraud (Voreppe, FR); Fernando Jose Ramalho Teixeira, Jr. (Grenoble, FR)
H03B5/364H03B5/368H03B2200/0012H03B2200/005H03B2201/0208H03B2201/0291H03J2200/10
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12695422
App. No.
18/943,506
Granted
Jul 28, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present description concerns an electronic oscillator comprising a resonator coupled in parallel to at least one active circuit, the resonator comprising two electrodes coupled to separate variable capacitive elements forming a charge capacitive element of the electronic oscillator, and a control device configured to independently control the values of the variable capacitive elements.

Claims (41)

1 . An electronic oscillator comprising:

a resonator coupled in parallel with at least one active circuit, the resonator comprising two electrodes coupled to distinct variable capacitive elements forming a charge capacitive element of the electronic oscillator, wherein each of the variable capacitive elements comprises a bank of capacitors having different values, and

a control device configured to independently control values of the variable capacitive elements,

wherein the control device comprises a digital circuit,

wherein the control device comprises an adder configured to add a least significant bit of a control signal coded over a plurality of bits to a binary number formed of the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal, and

wherein the control device is configured to apply an output signal of the adder to at least one control input of a first bank of capacitors and to apply the binary number to at least one control input of a second bank of capacitors.

2 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein each capacitor bank is configured so that a value of a corresponding variable capacitive element is at least equal to a value of a first capacitor of the capacitor bank.

3 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 2 , wherein each capacitor bank further comprises at least one second capacitor coupled to a controllable switch by the control device to couple or not the second capacitor in parallel with the first capacitor of the capacitor bank.

4 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the bank of capacitors comprise capacitors having values identical from one bank of capacitors to another.

5 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the control device comprises a Look Up Table (LUT), or a synthesized combinational logic circuit, or a microcontroller.

6 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the resonator corresponds to a quartz resonator or to a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) resonator.

7 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one active circuit comprises an inverter amplifier.

8 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 7 , wherein the inverter amplifier comprises at least one Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistor.

9 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 8 , wherein the inverter amplifier further comprises a feedback impedance coupled to the MOS transistor.

10 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the variable capacitive elements are each configured so that a corresponding value is variable within a range from 2 pF to 20 pF.

11 . A radio frequency (RF) transmission device, comprising at least one electronic oscillator according to claim 1 .

12 . The electronic oscillator according to claim 1 , wherein the adder is configured such that:

when the least significant bit of the control signal has a ‘0’ value, the output signal of the adder is equal to the binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal; and

when the least significant bit of the control signal has a ‘1’ value, the output signal of the adder is equal to a sum of a ‘1’ bit with the binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal.

13 . A control method of an electronic oscillator comprising:

coupling a resonator in parallel with at least one active circuit, the resonator comprising two electrodes coupled to distinct variable capacitive elements forming a charge capacitive element of the electronic oscillator, and

independently controlling, by a control device, values of the variable capacitive elements,

wherein:

the control device comprises a digital circuit,

each of the variable capacitive elements comprises a bank of capacitors having different values, and

the control device comprises an adder configured to add a least significant bit of a control signal coded over a plurality of bits to a binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal, and

wherein the control method comprises:

receiving the control signal at an input of the adder, then

adding, by the adder, the least significant bit of the control signal with the binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal, then

applying, by the control device, an output signal of the adder to at least one control input of a first bank of capacitors, and applying the binary number to at least one control input of a second bank of capacitors.

14 . The control method according to claim 13 , wherein the at least one control input of the first bank of capacitors and the at least one control input of the second bank of capacitors are control inputs of controllable switches.

15 . The control method according to claim 13 , wherein:

when the least significant bit of the control signal has a ‘0’ value, the output signal of the adder is equal to the binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal; and

when the least significant bit of the control signal has a ‘1’ value, the output signal of the adder is equal to a sum of a ‘1’ bit with the binary number comprising the bits of the control signal other than the least significant bit of the control signal.

16 . The control method according to claim 15 , wherein:

when the least significant bit of the control signal has the ‘0’ value, the values of the variable capacitive elements are identical one to each other; and

when the least significant bit of the control signal has the ‘1’ value, the values of the variable capacitive elements are different from each other.

17 . The control method according to claim 13 , wherein each of the variable capacitive elements comprises a bank of capacitors having different values.

18 . The control method according to claim 17 , wherein each capacitor bank is configured so that a value of a corresponding variable capacitive element is at least equal to a value of a first capacitor of the capacitor bank.

19 . The control method according to claim 18 , wherein each capacitor bank further comprises at least one second capacitor coupled to a controllable switch by the control device to couple or not the second capacitor in parallel with the first capacitor of the capacitor bank.

20 . The control method according to claim 17 , wherein the bank of capacitors comprise capacitors having values identical from one bank of capacitors to another.