Enabling Techniques For Low Power High Performance Fractional N Frequency Synthesizers

Delta-sigma fractional-N phase-locked loops are used to generate high quality radio-frequency signals for use in wireless applications. To reduce the phase noise inherent to these systems, a digital-to-analog converter is used to cancel the error introduced by the fractional division process, however matching between the digital-to-analog converter and the phase-locked loop circuitry place a limit on the amount of phase noise reduction that can be achieved. Furthermore, circuit non-linearity results in the appearance of spurious tones in the phase-locked loop output. This dissertation outlines a calibration technique, and a digital quantization technique that provide solutions to these two problems. The calibration technique results in improved phase noise performance by adjusting the digital-to-analog converter gain, and thus providing better matching between the phase-locked loop circuitry and digital-to-analog converter. The digital quantization technique results in no spurious tones when specified non-linearity is applied to the quantizer output sequence and error. The calibration technique was implemented in an integrated circuit, which achieves state-of-the-art performance when compared to currently published phase-locked loops and allows for all circuitry to be integrated onto a single chip. Chapter 1 presents the calibration technique, as well as a theoretical analysis of the stability. Chapter 2 presents details on the digital quantization technique, and a mathematical proof of the absence of spurious tones. In chapter 3, results from an implemented circuit are presented, which verify the behaviour of the technique presented in chapter 1.

CMOS Fractional-N Synthesizers starts with a comprehensive introduction to general frequency synthesis. Different architectures and synthesizer building blocks are discussed with their relative importance on synthesizer specifications. The process of synthesizer specification derivation is illustrated with the DCS-1800 standard as a general test case. The book tackles the design of fractional-N synthesizers in CMOS on circuit level as well as system level. The circuit level focuses on high-speed prescaler design up to 12 GHz in CMOS and on fully integrated, low-phase-noise LC-VCO design. High-Q inductor integration and simulation in CMOS is elaborated and flicker noise minimization techniques are presented, ranging from bias point choice to noise filtering techniques. On a higher level, a systematic design strategy has been developed that trades off all noise contributions and fast dynamics for integrated capacitance (area). Moreover, a theoretical DeltaSigma phase noise analysis is presented, extended with a fast non-linear analysis method to accurately predict the influence of PLL non-linearities on the spectral purity of the DeltaSigma fractional-N frequency synthesizers.

This book explains concepts behind fractional subsampling-based frequency synthesis that is re-shaping today’s art in the field of low-noise LO generation. It covers advanced material, giving clear guidance for development of background-calibrated environments capable of spur-free synthesis and wideband phase modulation. It further expands the concepts into the field of subsampling polar transmission, where the newly developed architecture enables unprecedented spectral efficiency levels, unquestionably required by the upcoming generation of wireless standards.

This text describes a conceptual framework for analyzing the performance of PLL frequency synthesizers, and presents optimization procedures for the different performance aspects. It contains basic information and in-depth knowledge, widely illustrated with practical design examples used in industrial products.

The new edition of the leading resource on designing digital frequency synthesizers from microwave and wireless applications, fully updated to reflect the most modern integrated circuits and semiconductors Microwave and Wireless Synthesizers: Theory and Design, Second Edition, remains the standard text on the subject by providing complete and up-to-date coverage of both practical and theoretical aspects of modern frequency synthesizers and their components. Featuring contributions from leading experts in the field, this classic volume describes loop fundamentals, noise and spurious responses, special loops, loop components, multiloop synthesizers, and more. Practical synthesizer examples illustrate the design of a high-performance hybrid synthesizer and performance measurement techniques—offering readers clear instruction on the various design steps and design rules. The second edition includes extensively revised content throughout, including a modern approach to dealing with the noise and spurious response of loops and updated material on digital signal processing and architectures. Reflecting today’s technology, new practical and validated examples cover a combination of analog and digital synthesizers and hybrid systems. Enhanced and expanded chapters discuss implementations of direct digital synthesis (DDS) architectures, the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), crystal and other high-Q based oscillators, arbitrary waveform generation, vector signal generation, and other current tools and techniques. Now requiring no additional literature to be useful, this comprehensive, one-stop resource: Provides a fully reviewed, updated, and enhanced presentation of microwave and wireless synthesizers Presents a clear mathematical method for designing oscillators for best noise performance at both RF and microwave frequencies Contains new illustrations, figures, diagrams, and examples Includes extensive appendices to aid in calculating phase noise in free-running oscillators, designing VHF and UHF oscillators with CAD software, using state-of-the-art synthesizer chips, and generating millimeter wave frequencies using the delay line principle Containing numerous designs of proven circuits and more than 500 relevant citations from scientific journal and papers, Microwave and Wireless Synthesizers: Theory and Design, Second Edition, is a must-have reference for engineers working in the field of radio communication, and the perfect textbook for advanced electri

A new and innovative paradigm for RF frequency synthesis and wireless transmitter design Learn the techniques for designing and implementing an all-digital RF frequency synthesizer. In contrast to traditional RF techniques, this innovative book sets forth digitally intensive design techniques that lead the way to the development of low-cost, low-power, and highly integrated circuits for RF functions in deep submicron CMOS processes. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate how the architecture enables readers to integrate an RF front-end with the digital back-end onto a single silicon die using standard ASIC design flow. Taking a bottom-up approach that progressively builds skills and knowledge, the book begins with an introduction to basic concepts of frequency synthesis and then guides the reader through an all-digital RF frequency synthesizer design: Chapter 2 presents a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO), which is the foundation of a novel architecture, and introduces a time-domain model used for analysis and VHDL simulation Chapter 3 adds a hierarchical layer of arithmetic abstraction to the DCO that makes it easier to operate algorithmically Chapter 4 builds a phase correction mechanism around the DCO such that the system's frequency drift or wander performance matches that of the stable external frequency reference Chapter 5 presents an application of the all-digital RF synthesizer Chapter 6 describes the behavioral modeling and simulation methodology used in design The final chapter presents the implementation of a full transmitter and experimental results. The novel ideas presented here have been implemented and proven in two high-volume, commercial single-chip radios developed at Texas Instruments: Bluetooth and GSM. While the focus of the book is on RF frequency synthesizer design, the techniques can be applied to the design of other digitally assisted analog circuits as well. This book is a must-read for students and engineers who want to learn a new paradigm for RF frequency synthesis and wireless transmitter design using digitally intensive design techniques.

In this book, the authors outline detailed design methodology for fast frequency hopping synthesizers for RF and wireless communications applications. There is great emphasis on fractional-N delta-sigma based phase locked loops from specifications, system analysis and architecture planning to circuit design and silicon implementation. The developed techniques in the book can help in designing very low noise, high speed fractional-N frequency synthesizers.

Frequency synthesizers find wide applications in different communication systems. The demand for higher performance and speed from one side, and lower power consumption and cost from another side, makes the synthesizer's design a challenging task. In this thesis, a very low power integrated circuit fractional-N frequency synthesizer was designed which employs a $\Delta\Sigma$ modulator in its architecture to digitally control the output frequency and also to shape the noise of the dual modulus divider. The target application for this design is clock recovery in digital communication receivers in which the timing information is obtained in digital domain (such as baud-rate timing recovery method). This information has to be applied to a digitally-controlled frequency synthesizer which generates pulses to sample the incoming data for extracting the information. The center frequency of VCO is around 315 MHz which makes the system suitable for high speed applications (622Mb/s in case of 4-PAM modulation scheme). The chip is fabricated in a CMOS 0.35$\mu$ process and consumes only 8.5 mW power using a single 3.3 V power supply.

Driven by advanced CMOS technology, power management units, RF transceivers, and sensors, analog and mixed-signal circuits can now be fully integrated with VLSI digital systems for applications ranging from mobile, internet-of-things (IoT), wearable, and implantable medical devices. Evidently, the circuit- and system-level innovations have pushed the device performance boundaries to become orders of magnitude higher, whilst keeping the same or even lower power consumption.Selected Topic in Power, RF, and Mixed-Signal ICs provides a practical overview and state-of-the-art advancements on several selected topics in the areas of power, RF, and mixed-signal integrated circuits and systems.Topics covered in the book include:• Very-High-Frequency DC-DC Switching Converters• Analog and Digital Low-Dropout Regulators• Analog and Digital Sub-Sampling Frequency Synthesizers• Hybrid ADC Architecture with Digital Assisted Techniques• CMOS Image Sensors and Their Biomedical Applications• CMOS Temperature Sensors• CMOS Millimeter-Wave Power Amplifiers• Zigbee/BLE Transmitter for IoT Applications