Abstract:
A current-steering charge pump circuit and method for switch timing that reduces the amount of switching transients on an output current pulse produced by the charge pump. The charge pump circuit is especially adapted to control a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) in a phase-locked loop circuit.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 60/317,382, filed Sep. 4, 2001 entitled PHASE-LOCKED LOOP, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates generally to the field of phase-locked loop (PLL) electronic circuits, and more particularly to an improved switch timing of a charge pump for use in a phase-locked loop circuit.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Fully integrated phase-locked loop (PLL) circuits have been widely used in areas such as communications, wireless systems, digital circuits, and disk drive electronics. The operation of conventional charge pump-based phase locked loop circuits are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,147,561 describes the operation of the basic block diagram shown in FIG. 1. As described therein, the phase locked loop circuit includes a phase/frequency detector (PFD)  14 , a charge pump  18 , a loop filter  20 , a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)  22 , a reference divider  12  and an M divider  24 .  
           [0006]    The basic PLL circuit of FIG. 1 receives an input reference clock signal  10 , in form of square waves with reference frequency f ref , from a reference frequency source, not shown, usually a crystal oscillator which generates a low jitter or low phase noise reference signal at a known frequency. The reference divider  12  divides the input signal  10  reference frequency f ref  by an integer R, to allow use of a higher frequency reference source.  
           [0007]    The phase/frequency detector  14  has two input terminals, the reference input and the feedback input. The output signal  13  of the reference divider  12  is provided as the reference input signal of the phase/frequency detector  14 . The PLL circuit output signal  16  with frequency f out , which is the output of the VCO  22 , is divided by the M divider  24 . The output signal  25  of the M divider  24  is provided as the feedback input signal into the phase/frequency detector  14 .  
           [0008]    The phase/frequency detector  14  outputs an UP signal  19  and a DOWN signal  15 . When the phase of the reference input signal  13  leads the feedback input signal  25 , the phase/frequency detector  14  outputs longer UP pulses and shorter DOWN pulses. When the phase of the feedback input signal  25  leads the reference input  13 , the phase/frequency detector  14  outputs longer DOWN pulses and shorter UP pulses. The duration difference of UP and DOWN pulses equals the phase difference of the reference input signal and the feedback input signal.  
           [0009]    The charge pump  18  is an analog circuit controlled by the phase/frequency detector outputs, that is, the UP signal  19  and DOWN signal  15 , which acts in response to an indication of a phase difference between signals supplied by the reference frequency source and signals supplied by the voltage controlled oscillator  22 . The charge pump  18  generates phase error correction current pulses supplied to the loop filter  20  based on the UP/DOWN pulses provided by the phase/frequency detector, in order to pull the input voltage of the voltage controlled oscillator  22  up or down to adjust the frequency of the VCO output signal  16 . Conventional charge pump circuits typically contain a current source and a current sink to pull the charge pump  18  output voltage up or down, respectively, by providing appropriate current to a capacitive input of the loop filter  20 .  
           [0010]    The loop filter  20  smoothes the phase/frequency detector  14  output voltage and determines the loop performance, based upon selected loop filter  20  elements. The output of the loop filter  20  adjusts the input voltage of the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO)  22  and determines the frequency f out  of the output signal  16  of the VCO  22  and the PLL circuit. The output signal  16  of the VCO  22  is then fed back, divided by integer M in the M divider  24 , and input into the feedback input of the phase/frequency detector  14 .  
           [0011]    The PLL circuit produces an output signal  16  whose frequency f out  is equal to the value [(f ref /R)*M], and the phase of the VCO output signal  16  follows the phase of the input reference signal  10 . Therefore, the feedback of the PLL provides a means for locking the phase and frequency f out  of the output signal  16  in accordance with the phase and frequency of the input reference signal  10 . If the input reference signal  10  has a highly stable reference frequency, the PLL circuit produces the output signal  16  with a highly stable frequency f. out .  
           [0012]    Conventional charge pump circuits, however, produce switching transients in the output current pulse signal, which adversely affects the PLL circuit performance. It would be desirable to reduce these switching transients.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0013]    In general, the present invention is an improved switching procedure for the current steering type charge pump circuit. A current steering type charge pump circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes four control signals, UP, UPB, DN and DNB. In order to produce an UP current pulse output signal, the UPB control signal is first asserted (turned “on”), followed by the UP control signal. After a period of time, which is proportional to the error signal that needs to be applied to a VCO, the UPB signal is first unasserted (turned “off”), followed by the UP signal. This procedure isolates the output during the switching time, and thereby reduces the transients and ripples on the output current signal.  
           [0014]    Similarly, to produce a DOWN current pulse output signal (i.e. a “sink” current pulse), a DN control is first asserted, followed by a DNB control signal. After a period of time, which is proportional to the error signal that needs to be applied to a VCO, the DN signal is first unasserted (turned “off”), followed by the DNB signal. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0015]    The present invention will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like structural elements, and in which:  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional phase-locked loop circuit utilizing a charge pump circuit;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a current steering type charge pump circuit according to the present invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 3 is a diagram of prior art switching signals for producing an UP current pulse signal;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 is a diagram of prior art switching signals for producing a DOWN current pulse signal;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 is a diagram of the switching signals for producing an UP current pulse according to the present invention;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 6 is a diagram of the switching signals for producing a DOWN current pulse signal according to the present invention;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 7A is a computer simulation of the input signal timing according to the prior art;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 7B is a computer simulation showing the output signals of a prior art charge pump circuit, when switched according to the inputs signals of FIG. 7A;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 8A is a computer simulation of the input signal timing according to the present invention; and  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 8B is a computer simulation showing the output signal in a charge pump circuit configured according to the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0026]    The following description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention and sets forth the best modes contemplated by the inventor for carrying out the invention. Various modifications, however, will remain readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Any and all such modifications, equivalents and alternatives are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the present invention.  
         [0027]    In general, the present invention is an improved switching procedure for the current steering type charge pump circuit. FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a charge pump circuit  2  according to the present invention. As described above, the output of a charge pump is a current pulse that drives a VCO. The amplitude of the current pulse is fixed but the timing, i.e. the turn on time of the current, is equal to the UP or DOWN signal duration. For example, if the feedback signal is early in phase, then in order to pull the phase back, the charge pump creates a correction signal, and the duration of the correction signal is proportional to the phase error. The charge pump may source or sink current, depending upon whether the required correction signal is UP or DOWN.  
         [0028]    The charge pump circuit  2  comprises a first current source  32 , a left branch  4 , a right branch  6 , a second current source  34 , and an operational amplifier (OP-AMP)  30 . The left branch  4  further comprises a first transistor M 1 , and a third transistor M 3 . The gate of M 1  connected to the UP control signal, while the gate of M 3  is connected to DNB control signal. The right branch  6  further comprises a second transistor M 2 , and a fourth transistor M 4 . The gate of M 2  is connected to UPB control signal, while the gate of M 4  is connected to DN control signal. The output of the charge pump circuit  2  is taken from the node OUT.  
         [0029]    In the schematic of FIG. 2, a current source  32  is always “on” producing a current I 1 . The UP and UPB are complementary signals, so that when the UP signal is asserted (i.e. turned “on”), the UPB signal goes down (i.e. is unasserted or turned “off”). For example, if the UP signal switches from a “0” to a “1” then the UPB signal will switch from a “1” to a “0”. This will steer the current I 1  from the left side  4  of the circuit to the right side  6 . Note that the UP portion of the circuit  2  sources a current pulse. The operation of the DOWN portion of the circuit  2  operates in a similar fashion, but produces a current sink pulse at the OUT node.  
         [0030]    In the prior art charge pump implementations, during the switching process just described, both switching transistors M 1  and M 2  (or M 3  and M 4 ) are “on” for a brief interval during switching. This is illustrated graphically in FIGS. 3 and 4, for the UP and DOWN switching signals, respectively. The switching over-lap time (Δt 2  and Δt 4 ) occurs whether the current is being switched from left to right or from right to left. The purpose of having both transistors on for a brief period is to avoid pulling node X to the supply voltage Vdd. In other words, if there is a period of time in which no current flows through either the left  4  or right  6  branch, node X would be pulled to Vdd during this time interval. Similarly, node Y would be pulled to ground.  
         [0031]    However, when both the UP and UPB signals (or DN and DNB) are on, switching transients from the transistors M 1  and M 2  as well as node X (or M 3  and M 4  and node Y) can affect the output signal, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. The present invention partially overcomes this problem by modifying the switching signal timing, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.  
         [0032]    The present invention utilizes the same timing procedure to start the current pulse. However, the timing is different to turn the pulse off. As illustrated in FIG. 5, in the present invention, the end pulse switch timing turns off the UPB signal first, and then turns off the UP signal. As a result, there could be a short period of time that node X is pulled to Vdd. However, when M 2  is turned off, the output is isolated from any movement of node X. Therefore, any movement at node X or any transients in the left branch  4  will not be shown at the output. This produces a “cleaner” output signal, as compared to the prior art designs. At the time when the next UP/UPB pulses are asserted, the voltage at node X has already recovered to its steady state value. Therefore the disturbance of the node X will not affect the next UP current pulse.  
         [0033]    Similarly, for DOWN signals, as shown in FIG. 6, the start timing mirrors that shown in FIG. 4. However, to stop the pulse, the DN signal is asserted before the DNB signal. When M 4  is turned off, the output is isolated from node Y and the rest of the circuit  2 . Thus, the present invention will minimize the effect of the transients from all the voltage transitions on the output pulse at the end of the current pulse.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIGS. 8A and 8B are computer simulations showing the input signal timing according to the present invention and the output signals produced by the present invention. During steady state (when the PLL is locked), ideally the UP current pulse and the DOWN current pulse should cancel each other and the charge pump net output current should be zero, and the output charge pump voltage should not be disturbed. Contrasted with the prior art signal timing of FIG. 7A, it is clear that the present invention reduces the level of transient switching noise in the output signal at the end of the current pulse.  
         [0035]    Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various adaptations and modifications of the just-described preferred embodiments can be configured without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, it is to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced other than as specifically described herein.