IP Library Granted Patent US 12,375,091
Granted Patent B1
US 12,375,091 · App. 18/533,753 · Granted Jul 29, 2025

Oscillator amplitude calibration

Inventors: Mohammadamin Karami (East Gwillimbury, CA); Navid Yaghini (Pickering, CA); Hemesh Yasotharan (Toronto, CA)
Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
H03L7/093H03B5/12H03L7/099
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,375,091
App. No.
18/533,753
Granted
Jul 29, 2025
Kind
B1
Abstract

Multiple voltage amplitudes for an oscillator in a phase-locked loop may be selected to meet various design goals/criteria (e.g., frequency range of operation, jitter, power consumption, etc.). These multiple voltage amplitudes may be stored in a lookup table memory that relates frequency ranges to reference voltages. A reference voltage for a particular oscillator may then be selected and generated. A feedback loop may compare the amplitude output by the oscillator to the reference voltage and adjusts a bias current of the oscillator with the goal of substantially equalizing the oscillator output to the reference voltage.

Claims (33)

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

an inductor-capacitor (LC) tank oscillator having an output signal and a bias current control input; and

feedback circuitry to, based on a reference voltage indicator received from a lookup table, adjust the bias current control input to minimize a difference between a reference voltage based on the reference voltage indicator and an indicator of the magnitude of the output signal, wherein the reference voltage is generated by a digital-to-analog converter that receives the reference voltage indicator.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the indicator of the magnitude of the output signal is generated using rectifier circuitry.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the bias current control input receives a multi-bit digital value.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 3 , wherein the multi-bit digital value is thermometer coded.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 4 , further comprising:

a comparator receiving the reference voltage and the indicator of the magnitude of the output signal, and producing a comparator output signal; and

calibration circuitry to receive the comparator output signal and to, based on the comparator output signal, adjust the multi-bit digital value to minimize the difference between the reference voltage based on the reference voltage indicator and an indicator of the magnitude of the output signal.

6. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a memory on an integrated circuit, a first target amplitude value;

generating a first reference voltage based on the first target amplitude value;

producing a first output amplitude indicator voltage from a first output signal of a first inductor-capacitor (LC) tank oscillator;

adjusting a first current bias of the first LC tank oscillator based on a first comparison of the first reference voltage and the first output amplitude indicator voltage; and

receiving, from the memory on the integrated circuit, a second target amplitude value that is not equal to the first target amplitude value;

generating a second reference voltage based on the second target amplitude value;

producing a second output amplitude indicator voltage from a second output signal of a second inductor-capacitor (LC) tank oscillator; and

adjusting a second current bias of the second LC tank oscillator based on a second comparison of the second reference voltage and the second output amplitude indicator voltage.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first output amplitude indicator voltage is produced by a rectification of the first output signal.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first comparison of the first reference voltage and the first output amplitude indicator voltage is produced by a first comparator and is manifested as a first comparator output signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the adjusting of the first current bias is done to minimize a difference between the first reference voltage and the first output amplitude indicator voltage.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first current bias is adjusted using a multi-bit digital value.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the multi-bit digital value is thermometer encoded.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first LC tank oscillator is part of a first phase-locked loop and the second LC tank oscillator is part of a second phase-locked loop.

13. An integrated circuit, comprising: a memory to provide a first reference voltage indicator; and a first phase-locked loop comprising: an inductor-capacitor (LC) tank oscillator having an output signal and a bias current control input; and feedback circuitry to, based on the first reference voltage indicator received from the memory, adjust a bias current control input signal to minimize a difference between a reference voltage based on the first reference voltage indicator and an indicator of the magnitude of the output signal.

14. The integrated circuit of claim 13 , further comprising:

a second phase-locked loop, the memory to provide the second phase-locked loop with a second reference voltage indicator.

15. The integrated circuit of claim 13 , further comprising:

rectifier circuitry to produce the indicator of the magnitude of the output signal.

16. The integrated circuit of claim 15 , further comprising:

digital-to-analog converter circuitry that receives the reference voltage indicator and produces the reference voltage based on the reference voltage indicator.

17. The integrated circuit of claim 16 , wherein the first reference voltage indicator is selected based on a first performance goal for the first phase-locked loop.

18. The integrated circuit of claim 17 , wherein the second reference voltage indicator is selected based on a second performance goal for the second phase-locked loop.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 8, 2023
From: KARAMI, MOHAMMADAMIN; YAGHINI, NAVID; YASOTHARAN, HEMESH
To: CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 065812/0664 →
Continuity (1)
Provisional Application 63432185 · Dec 13, 2022
References Cited (4)
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US 20030098749A1 · Terasawa · 2003 [cited by examiner]