Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B5/00—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input
  • H03B5/08—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance
  • H03B5/12—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device
  • H03B5/1237—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device comprising means for varying the frequency of the generator
  • H03B5/124—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device comprising means for varying the frequency of the generator the means comprising a voltage dependent capacitance
  • H03B5/1243—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device comprising means for varying the frequency of the generator the means comprising a voltage dependent capacitance the means comprising voltage variable capacitance diodes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B5/00—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input
  • H03B5/08—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance
  • H03B5/12—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device
  • H03B5/1237—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device comprising means for varying the frequency of the generator
  • H03B5/1262—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element comprising lumped inductance and capacitance active element in amplifier being semiconductor device comprising means for varying the frequency of the generator the means comprising switched elements
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B5/00—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input
  • H03B5/30—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B5/00—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input
  • H03B5/30—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator
  • H03B5/32—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator being a piezoelectric resonator
  • H03B5/36—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator being a piezoelectric resonator active element in amplifier being semiconductor device
  • H03B5/366—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator being a piezoelectric resonator active element in amplifier being semiconductor device and comprising means for varying the frequency by a variable voltage or current
  • H03B5/368—Generation of oscillations using amplifier with regenerative feedback from output to input with frequency-determining element being electromechanical resonator being a piezoelectric resonator active element in amplifier being semiconductor device and comprising means for varying the frequency by a variable voltage or current the means being voltage variable capacitance diodes
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to details of oscillators covered by H03B
  • H03B2200/003—Circuit elements of oscillators
  • H03B2200/0048—Circuit elements of oscillators including measures to switch the frequency band, e.g. by harmonic selection
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H03—ELECTRONIC CIRCUITRY
  • H03B—GENERATION OF OSCILLATIONS, DIRECTLY OR BY FREQUENCY-CHANGING, BY CIRCUITS EMPLOYING ACTIVE ELEMENTS WHICH OPERATE IN A NON-SWITCHING MANNER; GENERATION OF NOISE BY SUCH CIRCUITS
  • H03B2201/00—Aspects of oscillators relating to varying the frequency of the oscillations
  • H03B2201/02—Varying the frequency of the oscillations by electronic means
  • H03B2201/0208—Varying the frequency of the oscillations by electronic means the means being an element with a variable capacitance, e.g. capacitance diode
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T29/00—Metal working
  • Y10T29/49—Method of mechanical manufacture
  • Y10T29/49002—Electrical device making
  • Y10T29/49117—Conductor or circuit manufacturing

Definitions

• the present application is directed to a multi-frequency reconfigurable voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and a method of providing same, and, more specifically, to a multi-frequency reconfigurable VCO having an inductor coupled in parallel with a plurality of resonators and to a method of providing same.
• VCO voltage controlled oscillator
• a voltage controlled oscillator is an oscillating circuit that produces an output having a frequency that can be controlled by a DC voltage input to the VCO.
• VCO's are commonly used in phase-locked loops in communications equipment including but not limited to wireless devices such as cellular telephones.
• LC on-chip inductors and capacitors
• MEMS piezoelectric micro-electro-mechanical systems
• FBAR's film bulk acoustic resonators
• AIN aluminum nitride contour mode resonators
• On-chip LC VCO's have a wide tuning range, greater than 10%, for example.
• on-chip inductors generally have a low Q-factor (generally ⁇ 30), such VCO's are generally characterized by high phase noise. This may be disadvantageous in certain environments where low phase noise and/or small size are desirable.
• MEMS- based VCO's may be significantly smaller due to the small form factor of MEMS resonators. Furthermore, the high Q-factor (> 1000) of these resonators results in a VCO that exhibits low phase noise.
• MEMS VCO's due to the low electromechanical coupling of these mechanical resonators, MEMS VCO's generally have a small tuning range, less than 3%, for example. This limited tuning range makes it difficult to cover large portions of a signal band without using a prohibitively large number of resonators.
• VCO that could be configured to cover a relatively large frequency range, the 100 MHz to 3 GHz range of cellular frequencies, for example, that is also compact in size with a small number of resonators and that exhibits low phase noise.
• An exemplary embodiment comprises a multiple frequency reconfigurable voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) having at least one resonator, at least one inductor arranged in parallel with the at least one resonator, and a variable capacitance device coupled in parallel to the inductor and arranged in parallel to the at least one resonator.
• VCO voltage controlled oscillator
• the at least one resonator is selectably coupled in parallel with the inductor and the variable capacitance device.
• Another embodiment comprises a method of providing a multiple frequency reconfigurable VCO that includes coupling an inductor in parallel with a variable capacitance device, providing a plurality of circuit paths in parallel with the inductor, providing a resonator and a switch in each of the plurality of circuit paths, and closing the switch in at least one of the plurality of circuit paths to produce an oscillating signal.
• a further embodiment includes a multiple frequency reconfigurable VCO having a variable capacitance device, an inductor coupled in parallel with the variable capacitance device, and at least two circuit paths coupled in parallel with the variable capacitance device and the inductor.
• the at least two circuit paths each include a piezoelectric laterally vibrating resonator and a switch for selectably coupling the piezoelectric laterally vibrating resonator in parallel with the inductor and the variable capacitance device.
• Yet another embodiment includes a multiple frequency reconfigurable VCO that includes a resonator arrangement, an inductor arrangement in parallel with the resonator arrangement and a variable capacitance arrangement coupled in parallel to the inductor arrangement and in parallel to the resonator arrangement.
• the oscillator also includes a switch arrangement for selectably coupling the resonator arrangement in parallel with the inductor arrangement.
• Another embodiment include a method of providing a multiple frequency reconfigurable VCO that includes step for coupling an inductor in parallel with a variable capacitance device, step for providing a plurality of circuit paths in parallel with the inductor, step for providing a resonator and a switch in each of the plurality of circuit paths, and step for closing the switch in at least one of the plurality of circuit paths to produce an oscillating signal.
• FIG. 1 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating a multiple frequency reconfigurable voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) according to an embodiment.
• VCO voltage controlled oscillator
• FIG. 2 is a plan view of a first resonator at a first frequency suitable for use in the VCO of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 3 is a plan view of a second resonator at a second frequency suitable for use in the VCO of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method according to an embodiment.
• embodiments may be described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequence of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the invention may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, the corresponding form of any such embodiments may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to" perform the described action.
• logic configured to perform the described action.
• Figure 1 illustrates a circuit 100 that includes an amplifier 102 having an input 104 connected to input circuits 106 and an output 108 connected to output circuits 110.
• a varactor 112 is connected across the input 104 and the output 108 of the amplifier 102, and is also connected to suitable tuning circuits 114 to vary the output of the amplifier 102.
• An inductor 116 is also connected across the input 104 and the output 108 of the amplifier 102 in parallel with the varactor 112.
• a plurality of circuit paths are connected in parallel with the varactor 112 and the inductor 116 including a first circuit path 118, a second circuit path 120 and a third circuit path 122.
• the first circuit path 118 includes a first switch 124 in series with a first resonator 126
• the second circuit path 120 includes a second switch 128 in series with a second resonator 130
• the third circuit path 122 includes a third switch 132 in series with a third resonator 134. While three circuit paths are illustrated, more or fewer circuit paths and associated resonators and switches can be provided based on the number and/or widths of the frequency bands to be covered.
• the first, second and third resonators 126, 130, 134 may comprise piezoelectric laterally vibrating resonators.
• the first resonator 126 may comprise a resonator like resonator 200 in Figure 2, configured to resonate at a first frequency
• the third resonator 134 may comprises a resonator like resonator 300 in Figure 3, configured to resonate at a second frequency, different than the first frequency.
• the first, second and third switches 124, 128, 132 are independently operable and may comprise RF MEMS switches or conventional MOSFET switches, depending on performance requirements for a given circuit.
• a suitable controller controls the open and closed positions of the first, second and third switches 124, 128, 132 to determine which one of the first, second and third resonators 126, 130, 134 is coupled in parallel with the varactor 112 and the inductor 116 and thus determine the center frequency of the VCO 136 formed by the amplifier 102, first through third resonators 126, 130, 134, the inductor 116 and the varactor 112.
• the presence of the inductor 116 in parallel with any one of the first, second or third piezoelectric laterally vibrating resonators 126, 130, 134 provides a larger effective coupling (k t 2 ) than is produced without the inductor 116.
• This provides a larger tuning range for the selected one of the first, second and third resonators 126, 130, 134, a range of about 10 percent to 30 percent, for example, of the center frequency of the selected resonator.
• the benefit of the higher Q-factor of laterally vibrating piezoelectric resonators can be utilized to reduce phase noise, while the inductor 116 is used to increase the effective coupling so as to increase the VCO tuning range to a level that was not generally obtainable using conventional lateral mode piezoelectric resonators.
• the VCO 136 can be used to select one or more signal bands of interest.
• the GSM signal band covers 824-960 MHz and 1710-1910 MHz.
• the first resonator 126 is selected to have a center frequency of 900 MHz and is tuned by about 15% in either direction to cover the first portion of the GSM band
• the second resonator 130 is selected to have a center frequency of 1800 MHz and is tuned by about 15% in either direction to cover the second portion of the GSM band.
• a single reconfigurable VCO with two resonators plus inductors and varactors should be able to cover all the GSM bands. If more wireless standards need to be covered, more resonators can be added.
• the inductor 116 can be made from various materials including, but not limited to, aluminum nitride (A1N), zinc oxide (ZnO) and lead zirconate titanate (PZT) and may be formed on substrates including silicon, glass, piezoelectric materials, or other composites suitable for realizing single-chip multi-frequency operation.
• the inductor 116 may be a conventional on-chip inductor and be formed on various substrates such as silicon, silicon on insulator, silicon on glass or be formed as a discrete component.
• the inductor 116 may alternately comprise an active inductor realized from circuit techniques.
• a method according to an embodiment is illustrated in figure 4 and includes a block 400 of coupling an inductor in parallel with a variable capacitance device, a block 402 of providing a plurality of circuit paths in parallel with the inductor, a block 404 of providing a resonator and a switch in each of the plurality of circuit paths, and a block 406 of closing the switch in at least one of the plurality of circuit paths to produce an oscillating signal.
• VCO 136 can be used in many environments and in some cases will be integrated into one or more semiconductor dies. Moreover, the VCO 136 and/or a semiconductor die into which it is integrated may be incorporated into a variety of devices including, without limitation, a set top box, a music player, a video player, an entertainment unit, a navigation device, a communications device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a fixed location data unit, and a computer.
• PDA personal digital assistant
• a software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.
• An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor.

Landscapes

• Oscillators With Electromechanical Resonators (AREA)
• Inductance-Capacitance Distribution Constants And Capacitance-Resistance Oscillators (AREA)

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Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (2)

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• 2011
  • 2011-11-10 US US13/293,361 patent/US9130505B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2012
  • 2012-11-12 EP EP12798937.4A patent/EP2777150A2/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2012-11-12 WO PCT/US2012/064714 patent/WO2013071259A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2012-11-12 IN IN2884CHN2014 patent/IN2014CN02884A/en unknown
  • 2012-11-12 KR KR1020147015569A patent/KR20140096114A/ko not_active Ceased
  • 2012-11-12 JP JP2014541384A patent/JP2015502085A/ja active Pending
  • 2012-11-12 CN CN201280055219.0A patent/CN103931101A/zh active Pending

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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