Patent · US Expired

Ring oscillator with peaking stages

US6956442B2 · kind B2 · utility

15Cited by
4References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 11, 2003
Grant dateOct 18, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 23, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03L7/183
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A ring oscillator with a plurality of delay stages having selectable active loads for selecting an R-C time constant that defines a delay through the delay stage. The ring oscillator oscillation frequency is a function of the selected R-C time constant, a selectable bias level, and the number of delay stages in the ring oscillator. In one embodiment, a MOSFET device gate-to-source capacitance is used with at least one selectable resistive device to form the R-C time constant. In an alternate embodiment, a plurality of parallel coupled resistive devices and parallel coupled capacitive devices are selectively coupled to the active load circuit to set the delay through the delay stage. The resistive devices are formed to be one of a resistor configured MOSFET device and a traditional resistive element. The capacitive devices are formed to be one of a capacitor configure MOSFET device and a traditional capacitive element.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.