Amplifier with vco-based adc
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsMARTIN KINYUA, ERIC SOENEN
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Abstract
An amplifier includes an input circuit configured to receive an analog input signal and a feedback signal, and output an analog error signal based on the analog input signal and the feedback signal. An ADC is configured to convert the analog error signal into a digital signal in a phase domain. A digital control circuit is configured to generate a digital control signal based on the digital signal in the phase domain. An output circuit is configured to generate an amplified output signal based on the digital control signal, and a feedback circuit is configured generate the feedback signal based on the amplified output signal.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- receiving an analog error signal by an input filter;
- providing an output of the input filter to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO);
- providing an output of the VCO to a phase quantizer;
- providing an output of the phase quantizer to a digital to analog converter (DAC);
- providing an output of the DAC to the input filter;
- providing the output of the phase quantizer to a digital control circuit;
- providing an output of the digital control circuit to an output driver;
- and
- generating an amplified output signal by the output driver.
A method, comprising:
- outputting, by an input circuit, an analog error signal based on an analog input signal and a feedback signal;
- outputting, by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that includes a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), a frequency signal based on the analog error signal;
- comparing, by a quantizer, the frequency signal to a reference signal to output a phase signal based on the frequency signal;
- generating, by an exclusive OR (XOR) gate, an XOR output based on the phase signal and the reference signal;
- and
- generating an amplified output signal, by an output driver, based on the XOR output.
A circuit, comprising:
- a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) configured to convert an analog error signal into a frequency signal;
- a quantizer configured to compare the frequency signal to a reference signal and output a phase signal based on the frequency signal;
- a digital control circuit configured to output a pulse width modulated (PWM) signal based on the phase signal;
- an output driver configured to generate an output signal based on the PWM signal;
- and
- a filter configured to filter the output signal to generate a feedback signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.