CMOS laddered inverter ring oscillator
AssigneeWayne State University
InventorsMohammad Alhawari, Melvin D. Edwards, II
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A ring oscillator includes a first set of at least three laddered inverter quantizer (LIQAF) circuits connected in stages that are in series, including a first LIQAF circuit and a last LIQAF circuit, and a feedback circuit from the last LIQAF circuit to the first LIQAF circuit having a logical NOT output compared to the first LIQAF circuit. A voltage input creates a pair of phase shifted waveforms in the first of the at least three LIQAF circuits that propagate sequentially through the stages of the at least three LIQAF circuits. Each stage has a pair of outputs to the next stage that are then phase shifted from the previous stage in the next stage.
Claims20
A ring oscillator, comprising:
- a first set of at least three laddered inverter quantizer (LIQAF) circuits connected in stages that are in series, including a first LIQAF circuit and a last LIQAF circuit;
- and
- a feedback circuit from the last LIQAF circuit to the first LIQAF circuit, the last LIQAF circuit having a logical NOT output compared to a logical input of the first LIQAF circuit;
- wherein a voltage input creates a pair of phase shifted waveforms in the first of the at least three LIQAF circuits that propagate sequentially through the stages of the at least three LIQAF circuits;
- and
- wherein each stage has a pair of outputs to the next stage that are then phase shifted from the previous stage in the next stage.
A method of constructing a ring oscillator, comprising:
- connecting a first set of at least three laddered inverter quantizer (LIQAF) circuits in stages that are in series, including a first LIQAF circuit and a last LIQAF circuit;
- and
- providing a feedback circuit from the last LIQAF circuit to the first LIQAF circuit, the last LIQAF circuit having a logical NOT output compared to a logical input of the first LIQAF circuit;
- wherein a voltage input creates a pair of phase shifted waveforms in the first of the at least three LIQAF circuits that propagate sequentially through the stages of the at least three LIQAF circuits;
- and
- wherein each stage has a pair of outputs to the next stage that are then phase shifted from the previous stage in the next stage.
A ring oscillator, comprising:
- a structure having a two level CMOS laddered inverter quantizer (LIQAF) and three horizontal LIQAF blocks;
- the three horizontal LIQAF blocks in each of the two levels connected in stages that are in series, including a first LIQAF circuit and a last LIQAF circuit, and a feedback circuit from the last LIQAF circuit to the first LIQAF circuit, the last LIQAF circuit having a logical NOT output compared to a logical input of the first LIQAF circuit;
- wherein the voltage input in the three horizontal LIQAF blocks in each of the two levels creates a pair of phase shifted waveforms in the first of the three horizontal LIQAF blocks that propagate sequentially through the stages of the three LIQAF blocks;
- and
- wherein each stage of the three horizontal LIQAF blocks in each of the two levels has a pair of outputs to the next stage that are then phase shifted from the previous stage in the next stage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.