Charge pump using dynamic charge balance compensation circuit and method of operation

An integrated circuit comprising:

• a system control section for operating at a plurality of clock speeds;
• at least one of a phase-locked loop (PLL) and a delay-locked loop (DLL) capable of providing at least one clock signal to said system control section, said at least one of a PLL and a DLL comprising a charge pump, wherein said charge pump comprises:
• a first current mirror for injecting a first charging current, I(U), onto a loop filter coupled to an output of said charge pump and injecting a second charging current, I(U)/M, onto an integrator capacitor, wherein said first and second charging currents are controlled by a first common control signal such that said first charging current mirrors said second charging current by a factor M;
• a second current mirror for draining a first discharging current, I(D), from said loop filter and draining a second discharging current, I(D)/M, from said integrator capacitor, wherein said first and second discharging currents are controlled by a second common control signal such that said first discharging current mirrors said second discharging current by said factor M;
• a sampling circuit for coupling said second charging current and said second discharging current to said integrator capacitor so that said integrator capacitor is one of:
• i) charged and ii) discharged by a difference current between said second charging current and said second discharging current;
• and
• a control circuit for detecting a voltage difference between a voltage on said loop filter and a voltage on said integrator capacitor, wherein said control circuit is operable to adjust said first common control signal to minimize said voltage difference.

A method of operating a charge pump, the charge pump comprising:

• 1) a first current mirror for injecting a first charging current onto a loop filter coupled to an output of the charge pump and injecting a second charging current onto an integrator capacitor, wherein the first and second charging currents are controlled by a first common control signal such that the first charging current mirrors the second charging current by a factor M;
• 2) a second current mirror for draining a first discharging current from the loop filter and draining a second discharging current from the integrator capacitor, wherein the first and second discharging currents are controlled by a second common control signal such that the first discharging current mirrors the second discharging current by the factor M, wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• coupling the second charging current and the second discharging current to the integrator capacitor so that the integrator capacitor is one of:
• i) charged and ii) discharged by a difference current between the second charging current and the second discharging current;
• detecting a voltage difference between a voltage on the loop filter and a voltage on the integrator capacitor;
• and
• in response to the detection of the voltage difference, adjusting the first common control signal to minimize the voltage difference.