Design and optimization of the ring oscillator based injection locked frequency dividers. (February 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Qiu, Qi-Lin; Yu, Xiao-Peng; Sui, Wen-Quan; Yeo, Kiat-Seng
• Is Part Of: Microelectronics journal. Volume 72(2018)
• Page Start: 40
• Page End: 48
• Publication Date: 2018-02
• Subjects: Dual-modulus prescaler -- Frequency divider -- Injection locked -- Large signal operation; Microelectronics -- Periodicals; Microélectronique -- Périodiques; Microelectronics; Electronic journals; Journals - contents and abstracts; Periodicals; 621.3805
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mejo.2017.12.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0959-8324

Abstract

Abstract: In this paper, the large signal operation of the ring oscillator based injection locked frequency divider is analyzed considering the trade-offs among the operating frequency, locking range and power consumption. A large signal model is used to reveal several key findings such as voltage-limited locking ranges and asymmetry between the upper and lower locking bands. They are applied to the optimize the dividers maintaining a good balance among design considerations. Several prototypes, including the divide-by-2 with 3 and 5 stages of inverters, divide-by-3 and divide-by-5, are implemented in a standard 0.18 µm CMOS technology to verify the operation under a large injected signal. As an extension, dual-modulus prescalers are further designed by the integration of switches for different ways of signal mixing. Measurements results show the proposed divide-by-2/3 unit and a divide-by-8/9 with this unit are able to work up to 8 GHz and 4.0 GHz with maximum power consumption of 0.7 mW and 1.5 mW respectively.