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US 7,629,856 B2Granted
Delay stage, ring oscillator, PLL-circuit and method
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorEdwin Thaller
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A delay stage for a semiconductor device includes at least one delay branch and at least one controllable switching apparatus. The at least one controllable switching apparatus is configured to connect a predefined amount of the at least one delay branch to a supply voltage.
Claims52
A delay stage for a semiconductor device, comprising:
- at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches in parallel, each pair of complimentary delay branches comprising at least one inverter, a first branch and a second branch;
- and
- at least one controllable switching apparatus, wherein an arbitrary amount of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches is connectable to a supply voltage to provide different frequency ranges depending on the amount of parallel connected delay branches.
A ring oscillator circuit, comprising:
- a first delay stage;
- and
- at least one second delay stage coupled to the first delay stage,
- wherein at least one of the first and second delay stages comprising at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches in parallel, wherein each of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches includes at least one inverter and each pair of complimentary delay branches comprising a first branch and a second branch, and at least one controllable switching apparatus, wherein an arbitrary amount of the at least pairs of complimentary delay branches is connectable to a supply voltage to provide different frequency ranges depending on the amount of parallel connected delay branches.
1 more element
A PLL-circuit, comprising:
- an oscillator wherein the oscillator comprises a first delay stage and at least one second delay stage coupled to the first delay stage, wherein at least one of the first and second delay stages comprising at least one controllable switching apparatus and at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches in parallel wherein each of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches includes at least one inverter, and further wherein an arbitrary amount of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches of the corresponding delay stage is connectable to a supply voltage to provide different frequency ranges depending on the amount of parallel connected delay branches.
A method for operating a delay stage for a semiconductor device, comprising:
- providing at least one controllable switching apparatus and at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches in parallel, wherein each of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches includes at least one inverter;
- and
- switching at least one switch by providing corresponding control signals to corresponding control terminals of the corresponding switches to connect an arbitrary amount of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches of the corresponding delay stage to a supply voltage to provide different frequency ranges depending on the amount of parallel connected delay branches.
A method for operating a ring oscillator circuit, comprising:
- providing a first delay stage and at least one second delay stage coupled to the first delay stage, wherein at least one of the first and second delay stages comprising at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches, wherein each of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches includes at least one inverter, and at least one switching apparatus;
- and
- switching at least one switch of the switching apparatus by providing corresponding control signals to corresponding control terminals of the corresponding switches to connect an arbitrary amount of the at least two pairs of complimentary delay branches to a supply voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.