Uniform-footprint programmable-skew multi-stage delay cell
US8664995B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 8, 2013 |
| Grant date | Mar 4, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 8, 2033 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2119/12
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Described embodiments provide a delay cell for a complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuit. The delay cell includes a delay stage to provide an output signal having a programmable delay through the delay cell. The delay cell has a selectable delay value from a plurality of delay values and a selectable output skew value from a plurality of output skew values, where the cell size and terminal layout of the delay cell are relatively uniform for the plurality of delay values and the plurality of output skew values. The delay stage includes M parallel-coupled inverter stages of stacked PMOS transistors and stacked NMOS transistors. The stacked transistors have configurable source-drain connections between a drain and a source of each transistor, wherein the selectable delay value corresponds to a configuration of the configurable source-drain connections to adjust a delay value of each of the M inverter stages and an output skew value of the delay cell.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.