Multi-phase clock generator for high-speed digital communication

This technology is a multi-phase clock generator that uses an injection-locked ring oscillator with a quadrature delay-locked loop for high-speed digital communication

Unmet Need: Accurate and efficient clock generator for serial link communication

Serial data communication requires clock and data recovery to avoid loss of data integrity when receiving data. Multi-phase clock generators have been used to produce clocks with the same frequency and fixed phase difference as the input clock, but current multi-phase clock generators have tradeoffs between accuracy, noise, and power consumption. Improvements in clock generator architecture may lead to faster and more efficient digital communication.

The Technology: Multi-phase injection-locked ring oscillator with low noise and power requirements

This technology uses a multi-phase injection-locked ring oscillator with a quadrature delay-locked loop to generate highly accurate and low-noise clocks. A prototype 8-phase clock demonstrated ideal phase accuracy (<0.5° IQ; <0.7° 8-phase), low integrated jitter (58.8fsrms from 100kHz to 1GHz) and low FOM jitter (-252.7dB) in a mature 65nm technology. This technology can be used as a staple chipset interface in many serial link communication circuits.

This technology has been validated with a proof-of-concept prototype.

Applications:

• High-speed data transfer
• Signal processing
• Wireless communication
• Optical transceivers

Advantages:

• High accuracy
• Low noise
• Low power

Lab Director:

Peter Kinget, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Pending

Related Publications:

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR CU21099

• Licensing Contact: Greg Maskel