Patent · US Active

Ring oscillators

US7859354B1 · kind B1 · utility

5Cited by
7References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 19, 2007
Grant dateDec 28, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 8, 2028

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03K5/1252
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Ring oscillator circuitry is provided. The ring oscillator circuitry may include a loop of inverters. A control gate may be interposed in the loop to control operation of the loop. The control gate may be activated using a ring oscillator trigger signal. During application of the trigger signal, the trigger signal may become degraded due to circuit parasitics. Trigger signal conditioning circuitry may be used to remove noise from the degraded trigger signal. A version of the trigger signal that has been conditioned by the trigger signal conditioning circuitry may be applied to a control input of the control gate. The trigger signal conditioning circuitry may include a low pass filter, a hysteresis circuit, and a two-stage buffer. The two-stage buffer may be formed from transistors with the same characteristics as the transistors in the inverters of the ring oscillator loop.

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