Voltage controlled oscillator amplitude control circuit

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit to output an oscillating signal having an amplitude; and

a control circuit to control the amplitude of the oscillating signal, the control circuit capable of providing a dominant pole, a filtering function, rectification, and a gain at a high impedance single node; and

wherein an area of the control circuit is less than an area of the VCO circuit.

2. An apparatus, comprising:

a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit including an on chip LC (inductor-capacitor) tank circuit and an amplifier to output an oscillating signal having an amplitude; and

a control circuit to control the amplitude of the oscillating signal, the control circuit capable of providing a dominant pole, a filtering function, rectification, and the amplifier gain at a high impedance single node; and

wherein the VCO circuit and the control circuit each comprises a part of a phase locked loop circuit that is used to generate transmit and receive clocks in a SerDes integrated circuit (IC) device.

3. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit comprises dual grounded source transistors that convert the amplitude of the oscillating signal into a rectified current signal, and output the rectified current signal to the high impedance single node.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit comprises a filter that filters the rectified current signal at the high impedance single node.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the control circuit comprises a reference current source that outputs a reference current signal to the high impedance single node.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the rectified current signal from the dual grounded source transistors and the reference current source are summed at the high impedance single node to provide the gain at the high impedance single node.

7. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the VCO circuit and the control circuit are implemented in an integrated circuit (IC).

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the implementation is performed using a process selected from the group consisting of a sub-micron fabrication process, a BiCMOS process, and a CMOS process.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the control circuit to control the amplitude of the oscillating signal of the VCO reduces the effects of process variations in the IC.

10. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit comprises a combined filter for the rectified current signal and a loop filter at the high impedance single node.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the combined filter prevents a second pole in a transfer function of the control circuit, and increases a stabilization of the control circuit.

12. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the amplitude control circuit increases a tuning range of the VCO circuit.

13. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit reduces phase noise by reducing a conversion of amplitude noise to phase noise.

14. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit can linearly operate the amplifier of the VCO circuit.

15. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit provides a fixed sensitivity of the oscillating signal frequency to the control voltage.

16. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit can lower a harmonic content of the output of the VCO circuit.

17. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit can reduce power dissipation of the VCO circuit.

18. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the control circuit can reduce power supply sensitivity of the VCO circuit.

19. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the amplifier gain regulate the current of the amplifier based on at least one of the rectified current signal and the reference current.

20. The apparatus of claims 1 or 2 , wherein the filtering function comprises an N-channel MOSFET inversion cap that is used to set the dominant pole at the high impedance single node.

21. The apparatus of claims 20 , wherein the rectified current signal is integrated by the N-channel MOSFET inversion cap that is used to set the dominant pole on the high impedance single node.

22. The apparatus of claim 1 in which the voltage controlled oscillator circuit comprises an on chip LC tank circuit and an amplifier and wherein the area of the control circuit is less than an area of the on chip LC tank oscillator circuit.