Fine tuning control for a digitally controlled oscillator
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsWing Fai LOKE, Chih-Wei Yao, Sunghwan Kim
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Abstract
Methods, apparatuses, and systems for providing a variable capacitance using an array of capacitor cells are discussed. In the fine tuning bank of an inductor/capacitor (LC)-tank of a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), control is implemented by selecting a boundary cell from the array of capacitor cells and having every cell before the boundary cell in a circuit path be grounded and having the boundary cell and every cell after the boundary cell in the circuit path be connected to a voltage source. The circuit path may be the one formed by using thermometer coding in the fine tuning bank.
Claims19
An array of capacitor cells that produce a variable capacitance, comprising:
- n row control lines;
- n column control lines;
- and
- an n×n array of capacitor cells which varies its overall capacitance by thermometer coding forming a path through the n×n array, each capacitor cell comprising:
- a feeder input for at least one of output of a previous cell in the path or output from a feeder line;
- a column control line input;
- a row control line input;
- and
- an output for the feeder input of a next cell in the path,
- wherein each cell in the array is in one of two states;
- wherein a boundary cell is selected by asserting its row control line input among the n row control lines and asserting its column control line input among the n column control lines,
- wherein all cells before the boundary cell in the path output a value input by the feeder line into the first cell in the path,
- wherein the boundary cell and all cells after the boundary cell in the path output a value opposite to the value input by the feeder line into the first cell in the path, and
- wherein each cell before the boundary cell in the path is in a first state of the two states, and the boundary cell and each cell after the boundary cell is in a second state of the two states.
A method for producing a variable capacitance, comprising:
- asserting a row control line and a column control line to select a boundary cell in an array of capacitor cells which varies its overall capacitance by thermometer coding forming a path through the array, wherein each cell in the array is either grounded or electrically connected to a voltage source;
- and
- providing a specific capacitance whose value is determined by having all cells before the boundary cell in the path being grounded, and having the boundary cell and all cells after the boundary cell in the path being electrically connected to the voltage source.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.