LU500939B1 - Enhanced PLL circuit - Google Patents

Enhanced PLL circuit Download PDF

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Publication number
LU500939B1
LU500939B1 LU500939A LU500939A LU500939B1 LU 500939 B1 LU500939 B1 LU 500939B1 LU 500939 A LU500939 A LU 500939A LU 500939 A LU500939 A LU 500939A LU 500939 B1 LU500939 B1 LU 500939B1
Authority
LU
Luxembourg
Prior art keywords
frequency
pll circuit
controlled oscillator
voltage controlled
vco
Prior art date
Application number
LU500939A
Other languages
German (de)
Inventor
Mohammed Iftekhar
Johannes Christoph Scheytt
Original Assignee
Univ Paderborn
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Univ Paderborn filed Critical Univ Paderborn
Priority to LU500939A priority Critical patent/LU500939B1/en
Priority to PCT/EP2022/083987 priority patent/WO2023099639A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of LU500939B1 publication Critical patent/LU500939B1/en

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Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H03ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03LAUTOMATIC CONTROL, STARTING, SYNCHRONISATION OR STABILISATION OF GENERATORS OF ELECTRONIC OSCILLATIONS OR PULSES
    • H03L7/00Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation
    • H03L7/06Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation using a reference signal applied to a frequency- or phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/08Details of the phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/10Details of the phase-locked loop for assuring initial synchronisation or for broadening the capture range
    • H03L7/107Details of the phase-locked loop for assuring initial synchronisation or for broadening the capture range using a variable transfer function for the loop, e.g. low pass filter having a variable bandwidth
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H03ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03LAUTOMATIC CONTROL, STARTING, SYNCHRONISATION OR STABILISATION OF GENERATORS OF ELECTRONIC OSCILLATIONS OR PULSES
    • H03L7/00Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation
    • H03L7/06Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation using a reference signal applied to a frequency- or phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/08Details of the phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/0807Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly a recovery circuit for the reference signal
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H03ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03LAUTOMATIC CONTROL, STARTING, SYNCHRONISATION OR STABILISATION OF GENERATORS OF ELECTRONIC OSCILLATIONS OR PULSES
    • H03L7/00Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation
    • H03L7/06Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation using a reference signal applied to a frequency- or phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/08Details of the phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/085Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal
    • H03L7/089Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal the phase or frequency detector generating up-down pulses
    • H03L7/0891Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal the phase or frequency detector generating up-down pulses the up-down pulses controlling source and sink current generators, e.g. a charge pump
    • H03L7/0895Details of the current generators
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H03ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
    • H03LAUTOMATIC CONTROL, STARTING, SYNCHRONISATION OR STABILISATION OF GENERATORS OF ELECTRONIC OSCILLATIONS OR PULSES
    • H03L7/00Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation
    • H03L7/06Automatic control of frequency or phase; Synchronisation using a reference signal applied to a frequency- or phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/08Details of the phase-locked loop
    • H03L7/085Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal
    • H03L7/093Details of the phase-locked loop concerning mainly the frequency- or phase-detection arrangement including the filtering or amplification of its output signal using special filtering or amplification characteristics in the loop

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  • Stabilization Of Oscillater, Synchronisation, Frequency Synthesizers (AREA)

Abstract

The invention pertains to an enhanced PLL circuit having a phase detector section (PD) and Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF), whereby the Enhanced PLL circuit provides a steering signal (Vprop, Vint; Vctl) towards a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), whereby an output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator is compared in the phase detector (PD) with a reference signal (Din) to thereby provide at least one signal (UP, DN) indicative of a deviation towards the Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF), to thereby enable said steering signal such that the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is kept locked, whereby the Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF) is provided with a further offset current modulation (IOS,p, IOS,n), whereby the frequency is low with respect to the frequency of the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator.

Description

Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -1- LU500939
Enhanced PLL circuit
BACKGROUND
State-of-art Clock and Data recovery (CDR) circuits use an analog or digital phase-locked loop (PLL) in combination with a phase detector (PD). Popular choices for PDs are the bang-bang
PD or Hogge-PD.
However, in a CDR with a PD the frequency acquisition range is typically quite limited.
Hence, if the initial frequency of the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) deviates from the bit rate significantly, the CDR PLL will not achieve phase lock.
More precisely, if the difference between the VCO frequency and the bit rate is significantly larger than the PLL noise bandwidth, the PLL cannot lock reliably.
In many wireline communication standards stringent jitter transfer and jitter tolerance specifications have to be fulfilled which lead to a small loop bandwidth and hence a small locking range of the CDR.
As a consequence, the VCO can only lock if its initial frequency deviation is very small or if additional circuitry for frequency acquisition is used in the CDR PLL.
The state-of-the-art techniques for frequency acquisition are such as phase-frequency- detectors which can operate on data signals, dual-loop PLLs with a frequency-locked loop and external frequency reference, frequency-ramping with lock detection, e.g., as described in “A 9.8-10.7 Gb/s Bang-Bang CDR with Automatic Frequency Acquisition Capability” of the authors
Dodel, N., Klar, H., Otte, S. in 2006 49th IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems,2, 46 - 49, strobe point detector, and others.
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -2- LU500939
Also, in US Patent 8,963,594 82 the offset currents are used to operate the dual-loop PLL in desired linear working range, however not to enhance frequency acquisition.
Problems in prior art
The frequency acquisition techniques can increase circuit complexity, require lock detection, and increase power dissipation of the CDR significantly. Some techniques require an additional frequency reference, which could be realized by a quartz oscillator and again increases circuit complexity and power dissipation.
Based on these findings it is an object of the invention to propose a PLL scheme of low complexity which also offers low power consumption while allowing to improve locking properties.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURE
The attached figures show
Fig. 1 an overview of main components,
Fig. 2a and 2b exemplary high-level architecture of embodiments according to the invention,
Fig. 3 a prior art implementation,
Fig. 4 an exemplary high-level architecture of embodiments according to the invention,
Fig. 5 shows the implementation of the CP+LF for a differential PLL topology
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present disclosure describes preferred embodiments with reference to the Figures, in which like reference signs represent the same or similar elements.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or similar language means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -3- LU500939 with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” and similar language throughout this specification may, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.
The described features, structures, or characteristics of the invention may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the description, numerous specific details are recited to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. l.e., unless indicated as alternative only any feature of an embodiment may also be utilized in another embodiment.
In addition, even though at some occurrences certain features will be described with reference to a single entity, such a description is for illustrative purpose only and actual implantations of the invention may also comprise one or more of these entities. le., usage of singular also encompasses plural entities unless indicated.
A CDR PLL comprises three main components (see Fig. 1), namely a phase detector (PD), a charge pump and loop filter (CP+LF), and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO).
The phase detector PD is provided with a phase reference signal (data) at a first input Din. and provide its recovered data signal at output Dout for the CDR application.
The phase detector PD compares the phases of Din and the (looped back) VCO output to produce UP or DN (down) signals. Based upon the UP or DN signals, the proportional (Vprop) and integral (Vint) branch control voltages are steered to increase or decrease the VCO phase/frequency.
By means of low-frequency offset current modulation — as provided for by the invention - shown in Fig.2a with appropriately selected modulation parameters the frequency acquisition range of the PLL can be extended greatly, even up to the full tuning range of the voltage- controlled oscillator (VCO).
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -4- LU500939
By means of the offset current modulation the voltage Vint May be modulated and the VCO center frequency may be thereby changed.
As long as the PLL is out of lock with VCO center frequency is away from the acquisition range of the PLL, there are approximately equal numbers of UP pulses and DN pulses.
In this case the average current of the charge pump CP (without offset currents) will be zero.
Hence by adding an offset current to the capacitor C, Vint will change accordingly and the VCO center frequency is modulated. When the VCO center frequency is near enough to the bit rate of Din or the acquisition range the PLL, it will lock.
In the locked state, the PLL keeps the phase difference between Di, and the VCO output signal below one clock period and is able to track the phase difference properly.
Hence the charge pump CP current will no longer be zero but determined by the instantaneous phase difference.
If the modulation current (los, los.n.) is selected accordingly, i.e. made sufficiently small enough, the PLL will stay locked while a small modulation of the phase difference will counteract the offset current modulation in order to keep the average of the total charge pump current (including offset current) zero.
Also, the frequency of the modulation current shall be selected accordingly, e.g., low, preferably very low, because this affects the PLL dynamics less in the locked state, which has positive consequences on jitter transfer and jitter tolerance.
In addition, the frequency acquisition range may be enhanced or even maximized for lower modulation frequencies.
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -5- LU500939
Low modulation frequency is good for three reasons: First of all, low modulation frequency will give the PLL more time to lock which is especially good if the input data signal exhibits high noise levels and will increase frequency acquisition range for noisy input signals.
Secondly, the modulation frequency must be significantly smaller than PLL bandwidth to allow for maximum frequency acquisition range. Thirdly, typically VCOs have lower tuning sensitivity near maximum and minimum frequency. Slower modulation of offset currents allows for more time for acquisition near the maximum and minimum frequencies of the VCO, thus facilitating locking at such frequencies.
However, sometimes the PLL is required or lock within a specific time, the so-called maximum lock time.
If existent, this maximum lock time requirement sets a lower boundary of the modulation frequency, because the lower the modulation frequencies the longer it takes for the PLL to lock.
Under all these circumstances, the modulation current can be permanently applied to the capacitor C.
This is advantageous, because in case the PLL will lose lock the permanent modulation of the offset current will automatically allow to achieve lock again.
In prior art as described above in the article of Dodel, N., et al. an additional loss-of-lock detector is needed to initiate frequency acquisition when the PLL is out of lock which increases circuit complexity and power dissipation.
Furthermore, lock detection circuits typically indicate loss-of-lock with a certain delay, e.g., introduced by a low-pass filter. This causes a delay before the acquisition process can start.
With permanent modulation of the offset current the PLL starts the acquisition process immediately without delay.
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -6- LU500939
In the above cited patent offset currents are controlled to set the values of Vprop and Vint such that the PLL works in the desired linear working range to reduce the spurious tone in a dual- loop PLL but does not provide for frequency acquisition / locking range.
The permanent modulation current can be any periodic waveform including sinusoidal or rectangular or triangular or PWM waveforms.
Using permanent modulation of offset current, Vint can be steered from supply voltage to ground voltage covering the whole tuning range of the VCO.
It also allows to lock the PLL in a very short time, typically less than a millisecond, does not need to wait for the loss of lock detection, does not need any additional high-speed circuitry nor an external reference, and is very power efficient.
Fig.2b shows another way of representing the invention. The scheme operates similar to the above system (cf. Fig. 2a). The charge pump current (lp) may be composed (sum) of proportional (lcp,pop) and integral (lcp,int) currents. Vet is the control voltage to tune the VCO.
The offset currents are injected in the capacitor to set the Vint.
Fig.3 shows the implementation of the charge pump+loop filter (CP+LF) or transconductance circuit as in the prior art article. The emitter coupled transistor pair Q1-Q» is biased by a current 2lcp.int. The PMOS current mirror P1/P3 loads the transistor Q>. Based upon UP and DN signal from the phase detector PD, the current lout Switches between lcp.int and - lep.int. The offset or mismatch current Imm is introduced so that the current sunk or sourced out of the capacitor C can be matched. Also, the or mismatch current Imm is coupled with the state of the phase detector PD.
The disadvantage of this is the need of lock detector circuit to enable the loss-of-lock (LOL) switches S1-S>. When the PLL is out of lock, the loss-of-lock detector closes the switch Sı for a small time period and the Vint is loaded to VCC. Also, the mismatch current Imm is induced temporarily through closing the switch S2 during the frequency acquisition. This sets the VCO
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -7- LU500939 to maximum oscillation frequency. The state of the phase detector PD signals and or mismatch current Imm leads to the frequency acquisition. The offset current either aids or prevents the frequency acquisition as it is described in the prior art article.
Fig. 4 shows the implementation of the novel circuit.
Based upon UP and DN signals, the transistors Q1-Q> steer the current lcp,int charge the capacitor C through current mirror P3-P4 and discharge it through the current mirrors P1-P2 and N1-Na.
The offset currents los,p and los,n introduced are independent of the phase detector state.
The output impedances of the Pa and N; form a resistive divider and may be (and most often will be or preferably are) different due to the operating point, temperature variations, process parameter mismatch and PMOS vs NMOS device sizing. Therefore, the control voltage charges the capacitor C towards VCC or discharge towards VEE over time depending on the device parameters and operating conditions of Pa and N», thus leading inevitably to CP leakage.
The offset current can be manually adjusted to set the Vin to a desired value between VCC and VEE.
This method may require a lock detector as well. However, the offset current has no influence on the PLL stability requirements or PD state.
Alternatively, one could permanently modulate the offset current so that the Vin value charges and discharges periodically in between VCC and VEE values. The permanent offset current modulation only marginally increases the clock phase error in the VCO, the frequency (e.g., 100 Hz-100 kHz) of the modulation is preferably be chosen low such that the locked PLL may easily compensate the offset currents.
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -8- LU500939
Fig. 5 shows the implementation of the CP+LF for a differential PLL topology. Based upon UP and DN signals, the transistors Q»1-Q»4 steer the current lcp,int to charge the capacitor C through current mirror P3-P4 and discharge it through the current mirrors P1-P2 and N1-Na.
The invention thereby provides in the different embodiments for an enhancement of the frequency acquisition range of the PLL using permanent modulation of the offset current.
The advantages of the invention in a PLL are enhanced frequency acquisition, no circuit complexity or additional frequency acquisition loops or lock detection required, and power dissipation is negligible. Also, no external reference is needed for frequency acquisition.
In other word, within the invention an enhanced PLL circuit having a phase detector section (PD) and Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF) is proposed.
Within the enhanced PLL circuit the Enhanced PLL circuit provides a steering signal (Vprop, Vint;
Ve) towards a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), whereby an output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator is compared in the phase detector (PD) with a reference signal (Din) to thereby provide at least one signal (UP, DN) indicative of a deviation towards the
Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF), to thereby enable said steering signal such that the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is kept locked, whereby the Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF) is provided with a further offset current modulation (los,p, los,n), whereby the frequency is low with respect to the frequency of the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator.
In embodiments of the invention the frequency of the offset current modulation is lower than the noise bandwidth of the overall PLL circuit.
In still a further embodiment of the invention the circuit is or comprises an integrated circuit.
According to another embodiment of the invention the circuit comprises discrete components.
Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU
Application No.: NN -9- LU500939
According to yet another embodiment of the invention the offset current is provided only temporarily. This would further reduce the phase error in the locked state.

Claims (5)

Our ref.: UPA 47518 P LU Application No.: NN -10- LU500939 Claims
1. Enhanced PLL circuit having a phase detector section (PD) and Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF), whereby the Enhanced PLL circuit provides a steering signal (Vprop, Vint; Vet) towards a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), whereby an output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator is compared in the phase detector (PD) with a reference signal (Din) to thereby provide at least one signal (UP, DN) indicative of a deviation towards the Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF), to thereby enable said steering signal such that the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is kept locked, whereby the Charge pump and Loopfilter section (CP+LF) is provided with a further offset current modulation (losp, los,n), whereby the frequency is low with respect to the frequency of the output signal generated by the voltage controlled oscillator.
2. Enhanced PLL circuit according to claim 1, whereby the frequency of the offset current modulation is lower than the noise bandwidth of the overall PLL circuit.
3. Enhanced PLL circuit according to claim 1 or 2, whereby the circuit comprises an integrated circuit.
4. Enhanced PLL circuit according to one of the preceding claims, whereby the circuit comprises discrete components.
5. Enhanced PLL circuit according to one of the preceding claims, whereby the offset current is provided only temporarily.
LU500939A 2021-12-01 2021-12-01 Enhanced PLL circuit LU500939B1 (en)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
LU500939A LU500939B1 (en) 2021-12-01 2021-12-01 Enhanced PLL circuit
PCT/EP2022/083987 WO2023099639A1 (en) 2021-12-01 2022-12-01 Enhanced pll circuit

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
LU500939A LU500939B1 (en) 2021-12-01 2021-12-01 Enhanced PLL circuit

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LU500939B1 true LU500939B1 (en) 2023-06-01

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Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20030214330A1 (en) * 2002-05-20 2003-11-20 Fujitsu Limited Phase-locked loop circuit
US20040189402A1 (en) * 2003-03-28 2004-09-30 Holtek Semiconductor Inc. Fast frequency locking method and architecture realized by employing adaptive asymmetric charge-pump current mechanism
US20130200922A1 (en) * 2012-02-02 2013-08-08 Mediatek Inc. Phase frequency detector and charge pump for phase lock loop fast-locking
US8963594B2 (en) 2012-05-11 2015-02-24 Realtek Semiconductor Corporation Phase-locked loop circuit

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20030214330A1 (en) * 2002-05-20 2003-11-20 Fujitsu Limited Phase-locked loop circuit
US20040189402A1 (en) * 2003-03-28 2004-09-30 Holtek Semiconductor Inc. Fast frequency locking method and architecture realized by employing adaptive asymmetric charge-pump current mechanism
US20130200922A1 (en) * 2012-02-02 2013-08-08 Mediatek Inc. Phase frequency detector and charge pump for phase lock loop fast-locking
US8963594B2 (en) 2012-05-11 2015-02-24 Realtek Semiconductor Corporation Phase-locked loop circuit

Non-Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
ABDUL MAJEED K K ET AL: "Low power PLL with reduced reference spur realized with glitch-free linear PFD and current splitting CP", ANALOG INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND SIGNAL PROCESSING, SPRINGER NEW YORK LLC, US, vol. 93, no. 1, 21 June 2017 (2017-06-21), pages 29 - 39, XP036316911, ISSN: 0925-1030, [retrieved on 20170621], DOI: 10.1007/S10470-017-1013-4 *
DODEL, N.KLAR, H.OTTE, S.: "49th IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems", vol. 2, 2006, article "A 9.8-10.7 Gb/s Bang-Bang CDR with Automatic Frequency Acquisition Capability", pages: 46 - 49

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Effective date: 20230601