# Patent

## Title
Comparator with transition threshold tracking capability

## Abstract

A comparator is provided having a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage. The comparator also has a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage; wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals.

## Background
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This Application is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 13/612,799, filed on Sep. 12, 2012 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,581,632), which claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/596,353, filed on Feb. 8, 2012, the entireties of which are incorporated by reference herein.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a comparator, and more particularly to a comparator with transition threshold tracking capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
On-chip oscillators are in high demand as an external crystal replacement by low-cost and single-chip systems. The frequency stability of an oscillator against variations in temperature and supply voltage is a critical specification for an on-chip oscillator. Working with wide range of supply voltages is also preferred, to gain the most operating time when powered by a battery.
In general, a wide supply range oscillator with typical frequency stability can better accommodate temperature changes. Furthermore, relaxation oscillators with voltage averaging feedback (VAF) or an offset cancellation technique have good temperature stability, wherein the relaxation oscillators only work with a limited supply range. Moreover, an oscillator with a frequency tracking loop provides a stable output clock under wide supply voltage and temperature variations, but it requires a bandgap circuit with high precision, which increases the cost.
Therefore, a relaxation oscillator with adaptive supply voltage generation is desired to achieve the best frequency stability and fixed output frequency under a wide supply variation. To accomplish the adaptive supply voltage generation, the present invention proposes a comparator circuit with threshold tracking technique.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Comparators are provided. An embodiment of a comparator is provided. The comparator comprises: a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage according to a constant current; a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to a second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals. The buffer unit and the threshold control loop are powered by the reference voltage.
Furthermore, another embodiment of a comparator is provided. The comparator comprises: a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to a second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The threshold control loop comprises: a first PMOS transistor coupled to a first node, having a gate for receiving the second input signal; a first NMOS transistor coupled to a ground, having a gate coupled to the first node; and a second NMOS transistor coupled between the first node and the first NMOS transistor, having a gate for receiving the second input signal, wherein the bias signal is a signal of the first node. The output signal represents a compare result of the first and second input signals.
Moreover, another embodiment of a comparator for comparing a first input signal and a second input signal to obtain an output signal is provided. The comparator comprises: a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage according to a constant current and the second input signal; a buffer unit, providing the output signal according to the first input signal and a bias signal; and a threshold control loop, providing the bias signal to the buffer unit according to the second input signal, so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit to close to the second input signal. The buffer unit and the threshold control loop are powered by the reference voltage.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 shows a relaxation oscillator according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 shows the switching unit of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 3 shows a relaxation oscillator according to another embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 4 shows a schematic illustrating the switching units of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 shows an example illustrating a timing diagram of the relaxation oscillator of FIG. 3;
FIG. 6 shows an example illustrating a significant mismatch existing between the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 of FIG. 3;
FIG. 7 shows the comparator of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 8 shows the clock generator of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the invention.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
FIG. 1 shows a relaxation oscillator 100 according to an embodiment of the invention. The relaxation oscillator 100 comprises the current sources 110 and 120, a switching unit 130, a comparator 140, a clock generator 150, a resistive element (e.g., resistor RC), a capacitive element (e.g., capacitor CC) and a switch SW. The resistor RC is coupled between the current source 110 and a ground GND, and the capacitor CC is coupled between the current source 120 and the ground GND. The current source 110 coupled to a supply voltage VDD is used to provide a current Ir to the resistor RC, so as to generate a voltage Vr to a terminal T2 of the switching unit 130. The current source 120 coupled to the supply voltage VDD is used to provide a current Ic to the capacitor CC, so as to generate a voltage Vc to a terminal T1 of the switching unit 130. The non-inverting and inverting input terminals of the comparator 140 are coupled to the terminals T3 and T4 of the switching unit 130, respectively. According to an output clock Vout from the clock generator 150, the switching unit 130 alternately provides the voltage Vc or Vr to the non-inverting input terminal of the comparator 140 via the terminal T3 thereof, and also alternately provides the voltage Vr or Vc to the inverting input terminal of the comparator 140 via the terminal T4 thereof. For example, the switching unit 130 respectively provides the voltages Vc and Vr to the non-inverting and inverting input terminals of the comparator 140 when the output clock Vout is at a first voltage level (e.g. a HIGH level), and the switching unit 130 respectively provides the voltages Vr and Vc to the non-inverting and inverting input terminals of the comparator 140 when the output clock Vout is at a second voltage level (e.g. a LOW level). The comparator 140 compares the voltages Vr and Vc to obtain a reset pulse Vrst, and provides the reset pulse Vrst to the clock generator 150 and the switch SW. The switch SW is coupled to the capacitor CC in parallel, which is used to discharge the capacitor CC according to the reset pulse Vrst. The clock generator 150 generates the output clock Vout according to the reset pulse Vrst. In one example, the clock generator 150 flips the clock signal Vout when the compare result (the reset pulse Vrst) indicates that the cross voltage Vc of the capacitive element Cc substantially reaches the cross voltage Vr of the resistive element Rc. Therefore, the capacitor CC is discharged when the clock signal is flipped (e.g., transits from high level to low level and from low level to high level) or when the compare result indicates that the voltage Vc substantially reaches the voltage Vr. In FIG. 1, by interchanging the input signals of the non-inverting and inverting input terminals of the comparator 140, an offset voltage caused by the device mismatches existing in the comparator 140 is eliminated. Thus, clock frequency of the output clock Vout is stable.
FIG. 2 shows the switching unit 130 of FIG. 1 according to an embodiment of the invention. The switching unit 130 comprises two switches SW1 and SW2. According to the output clock Vout, the switch SW1 selectively couples the terminal T3 to the terminal T1 or T2, and the switch SW2 selectively couples the terminal T4 to the terminal T1 or T2. For example, the terminals T3 and T4 are respectively coupled to the terminals T1 and T2 when the output clock Vout is at a first voltage level, and the terminals T3 and T4 are respectively coupled to the terminals T2 and T1 when the output clock Vout is at a second voltage level.
FIG. 3 shows a relaxation oscillator 200 according to another embodiment of the invention. The relaxation oscillator 200 comprises a current mirror 210, the switching units 220 and 230, the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, a resistor RC, a capacitor CC and a NMOS transistor MSW, a comparator 240 and a clock generator 250. In the embodiment, the NMOS transistor MSW functions as a switch. The current mirror 210 comprises a bias circuit 260 and the mirror transistors MM1 and MM2. The mirror transistor MM1 is coupled between the supply voltage VDD and a node n3, and the mirror transistor MM2 is coupled between the supply voltage VDD and a node n4. The bias circuit 260 can be a constant-gm bias circuit for generating a bias current Ib. The bias circuit 260 comprises the mirror transistors MM3 and MM4, the NMOS transistors N3 and N4 and a resistor R. The mirror transistor MM3 is coupled between the supply voltage VDD and a node n1, which has a gate coupled to the node n1. The mirror transistor MM4 is coupled between the supply voltage VDD and a node n2, which has a gate coupled to the node n1. The NMOS transistor N3 is coupled between the node n1 and the resistor R, which has a gate coupled to the node n2. The NMOS transistor N4 is coupled between the node n2 and the ground GND, which has a gate coupled to the node n2. The resistor R is coupled between the NMOS transistor N3 and the ground GND. In response to the bias current Ib, the mirror transistor MM1 provides a current Ir to the node n3, and the mirror transistor MM2 provides a current Ic to the node n4. The terminals T1 and T2 of the switching unit 220 are coupled to the mirror transistors MM1 and MM2, respectively, and the terminals T3 and T4 of the switching unit 220 are coupled to the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, respectively. According to the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb from the clock generator 250, the switching unit 220 alternately couples the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 to the nodes n3 and n4. Furthermore, the terminals T1 and T2 of the switching unit 230 are coupled to the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, respectively, and the terminals T3 and T4 of the switching unit 230 are coupled to the resistor RC and capacitor CC, respectively. According to the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb from the clock generator 250, the switching unit 230 alternately couples the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 to the resistor RC and capacitor CC. The resistor RC comprises the resistors Rp and Rn connected in series. The comparator 240 has a second input terminal IN2 coupled to the node n3 and a first input terminal IN1 coupled to the node n4. The comparator 240 compares a voltage Vbn at the node n3 and a voltage Vcmp at the node n4 to obtain a reset pulse Vrst. However, this is for illustrative purpose and not meant to be a limitation. For example, the comparator 240 may compare the voltage Vr of the first resistor Rc and the voltage Vc of the capacitor Cc to obtain the compare result. The NMOS transistor MSW is coupled to the capacitor CC in parallel, which is used to discharge the capacitor CC according to the reset pulse Vrst. The clock generator 150 generates an output clock Vout and the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb according to the reset pulse Vrst. In this way, by switching the differential inputs of the comparator 240 every half cycle of the output clock Vout, the frequency drift induced by comparator offset can be reduced.
In FIG. 3, a current-mode comparator formed by the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, performs a voltage comparison between the voltages Vr and Vc, wherein the voltage Vc is a voltage across the capacitor Cc. In one embodiment, the capacitor Cc is a metal-over-metal (MoM) capacitor. The current mode comparator is ideal for power saving by the reusing of current and the oscillation frequency could be derived as per the following equation (1):




  
    
      
        
          
            Δ
            ⁢
            
              
            
            ⁢
            T
          
          =
          
            
              
                
                  I
                  r
                
                ·
                
                  R
                  c
                
                ·
                
                  C
                  c
                
              
              
                I
                c
              
            
            +
            τ
          
        
        ,
      
    
    
      
        (
        2
        )
      
    
  




where Rc is a reference generating resistor, Ic is the charging current of the capacitor Cc, Ir is the biasing current of the resistor Rc and r represents the delay induced by the current mode comparator and the comparator 240, wherein τ is much smaller than the oscillation period of the relaxation oscillator 200 and can be ignored. As a result, temperature stability is dominant by the variation of the resistor Rc, because the ratio between the currents Ir and Ic is temperature-independent and the temperature variation of the capacitor Cc is also negligible. However, if the device mismatch of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 is taken into account, the equation (1) is re-written as the following equation (2):





  
    
      
        
          
            Δ
            ⁢
            
              
            
            ⁢
            T
          
          =
          
            
              
                
                  I
                  r
                
                ·
                
                  R
                  c
                
                ·
                
                  C
                  c
                
              
              
                I
                c
              
            
            +
            
              
                
                  V
                  os
                
                ·
                
                  C
                  c
                
              
              
                I
                c
              
            
            +
            τ
          
        
        ,
      
    
    
      
        (
        2
        )
      
    
  




where Vos represents the input-referred offset voltage of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2. It is obvious that Ic greatly affects the temperature stability of the relaxation oscillator 200. A self-chopped technique is used to solve this problem without the adoption of temperature-independent current references. The NMOS transistors N1 and N2 cancel the frequency drift caused by the offset voltage Vos every half cycle of the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb. To further improve the temperature stability, the resistor Rc comprises the p-poly resistor Rp and the n-poly resistor Rn coupled in series, wherein the p-poly resistor Rp and the n-poly resistor Rn have opposite temperature coefficients, thereby reducing the temperature variation of the resistor Rc.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic illustrating the switching units 220 and 230 of FIG. 3. In FIG. 4, a switch SW3 is coupled between the terminals T1 and T3, a switch SW4 is coupled between the terminals T2 and T3, a switch SW5 is coupled between the terminals T1 and T4, and a switch SW6 is coupled between the terminals T2 and T4. The switches SW3 and SW6 are controlled by the clock signal Vchp, and the switches SW4 and SW5 are controlled by the clock signal Vchpb. In one embodiment, each of the switches SW3, SW4, SW5 and SW6 is a transmission gate. Furthermore, the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb may be complementary or non-overlapped.
FIG. 5 shows an example illustrating a timing diagram of the relaxation oscillator 200 of FIG. 3. Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 together, for the initial phase, the chopper clock Vchp is at a low voltage level, and the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 are respectively connected to the resistor Rc and the capacitor Cc via the switching unit 230. Next, the capacitor Cc is charged, and the voltage Vc rises. When the voltage Vc substantially reaches the voltage Vr, the voltage Vcmp goes high which substantially reaches the voltage Vbn and the reset pulse Vrst is triggered by the comparator 240. Furthermore, the reset pulse Vrst is also used for the generation of dual-phase and non-overlapped chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb. In the clock generator 250, the toggle of the reset pulse Vrst flips the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb, which interchanges the drain/source connections of the NMOS transistors N1 and N2, and another charging cycle starts. After the capacitor Cc is charged to the voltage Vr again, the whole chopping cycle completes.
FIG. 6 shows an example illustrating a significant mismatch existing between the NMOS transistors N1 and N2 of FIG. 3. The timing error caused by the offset voltage Vos is eliminated. The offset voltage Vos only degrades the 50% duty cycle of the chopper clocks Vchp and Vcbpb, which is less important than the stability of clock frequency. It is noted that the chopper clock Vchp is also the output clock Vout of the relaxation oscillator 200.
In the relaxation oscillator 200 of FIG. 3, a transition threshold of Vcmp is important, which decides the discharging instance of the capacitor Cc and also the period of the output clock Vout. To generate a stable clock, an adaptive supply generation with threshold tracking technique is used in the comparator 240.
FIG. 7 shows the comparator 240 of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the invention. The comparator 240 comprises a voltage generator 242, a threshold control loop 244 and a buffer unit 246 and the inverters INV1 and INV2. The voltage generator 242 comprises a current source Ibs, a PMOS transistor P4, the NMOS transistors N11 and N12 and an amplifier OP. The voltage generator 242 provides a low dropout reference voltage VLDO at an output terminal Tout. The current source Ibs coupled to the supply voltage VDD is used to provide a constant current to the PMOS transistor P4. The PMOS transistor P4 is coupled between the current source Ibs and the NMOS transistor N12, and has a gate coupled to the second input terminal IN2 for receiving the voltage Vbn. The NMOS transistor N12 is coupled between the PMOS transistor P4 and the NMOS transistor N11, and has a gate coupled to the second input terminal IN2. The NMOS transistor N11 is coupled between the NMOS transistor N12 and the ground GND, and has a gate coupled to the second input terminal IN2. The PMOS transistor P4 and NMOS transistors N12 and N11 together form an inverter biased with the constant current Ibs and the voltage Vbn (e.g., the voltage of the second output terminal of the current mirror 210). The amplifier OP has a non-inverting terminal coupled to the current source Ibs and the PMOS transistor P4, an inverting terminal coupled to the output terminal Tout, and an output terminal coupled to the output terminal Tout. The threshold control loop 244 comprises a PMOS transistor P3 and the NMOS transistors N9 and N10. The PMOS transistor P3 is coupled between the output terminal Tout and a node n7, and has a gate coupled to the second input terminal IN2. The NMOS transistor N10 is coupled between the node n7 and the NMOS transistor N9, and has a gate coupled to the second input terminal IN2. The NMOS transistor N9 is coupled between the NMOS transistor N10 and the ground GND, which has a gate coupled to the node n7. The threshold control loop 244 is powered by the low dropout reference voltage VLDO and is used to provide a bias signal Vbias to the buffer unit 246 according to the input signal Vbn received at the second input terminal IN2 (e.g., the second output terminal of the current mirror 210), so as to regulate a transition threshold of the buffer unit 246 to close to the voltage Vbn. The clock buffer 246 comprises the PMOS transistors P1 and P2 and the NMOS transistors N5-N8. The PMOS transistor P1 is coupled between the output terminal Tout and a node n5, and has a gate coupled to the first input terminal IN1 for receiving the voltage Vcmp. The NMOS transistor N6 is coupled between the node n5 and the NMOS transistor N5, and has a gate coupled to the first input terminal IN1. The NMOS transistor N5 is coupled between the NMOS transistor N6 and the ground GND, and has a gate coupled to the node n7 of the threshold control loop 244 for receiving the bias signal Vbias. The PMOS transistor P2 is coupled between the output terminal Tout and a node n6, and has a gate coupled to the node n5. The NMOS transistor N8 is coupled between the node n6 and the NMOS transistor N7, and has a gate coupled to the node n5. The NMOS transistor N7 is coupled between the NMOS transistor N8 and the ground GND, and has a gate coupled to the node n7. The buffer unit 246 provides an output signal according to the input signal Vcmp received at the first input terminal IN1 (e.g., the first output terminal of the current mirror 210) and the bias signal Vbias, wherein the output signal represents a compare result of Vbn and Vcmp. The inverter INV1 is coupled between the node n6 and the inverter INV2. The inverter INV2 is coupled to an output terminal of the inverter INV1, which is used to output the reset pulse Vrst. Specifically, the threshold control loop 244, clock buffer 246 and the inverters INV1 and INV2 are powered by the reference voltage VLDO.
In the voltage generator 242, a reference voltage Vbs is generated by biasing a dummy inverter formed by the PMOS transistor P4 and the NMOS transistors N11 and N12, with the constant current provided by the current source Ibs. It is to be noted that the gate of the dummy inverter is biased with the voltage Vbn rather than an output of the dummy inverter. By proper sizing, a transition threshold of the dummy inverter is set, to close to the voltage Vbn, which indicates that if an inverter with the same size PMOS transistor P4 and NMOS transistors N11 and N12 is biased with the voltage Vbn, the transition threshold would be in the vicinity of the voltage Vbn. To eliminate the systematic and random offset induced by the voltage generator 242, the threshold control loop 244 is utilized to regulate the transition threshold of the buffer unit 246.
FIG. 8 shows the clock generator 250 of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment of the invention. The clock generator 250 comprises a plurality of delay cells DL, a D flip-flop 252, a low-to-high level shifter 254 and a non-overlapped clock generator 256, wherein the non-overlapped clock generator 256 comprises the NOR logic gates NOR1 and NOR2 and the inverters INV3-INV9. First, the reset pulse Vrst is delayed by the delay cells DL, and then the delayed reset pulse Vrst toggles the D flip-flop 252. A divided-by-2 clock is converted to the supply voltage VDD by the low-to-high level shifter 254. Next, the level-shifted clock is processed by the non-overlapped clock generator 256, and then the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb are produced. Therefore, by using the chopper clocks Vchp and Vchpb to control the switching units 220 and 230, the relaxation oscillator 200 of FIG. 3 with adaptive supply generation provides the stable output clock Vout to accommodate variations in temperature and supply voltages.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

## Claims

1. A comparator, comprising:
a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
wherein the buffer unit comprises:
a first transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a first node, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
a second transistor coupled between the first node and a ground, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
a third transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a second node, having a gate coupled to the first node; and
a fourth transistor coupled between the second node and the ground, having a gate coupled to the first node;
wherein a voltage of the second node represents the comparison result of the first and second input signals.

2. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a first inverter coupled to the second node of the buffer unit; and a second inverter coupled to the first inverter, outputting the output signal.

3. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.

4. The comparator as claimed in claim 1, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.

5. A comparator, comprising:
a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
wherein the voltage generator comprises:
a transistor having a gate for receiving the second input signal; and
an amplifier, having a first input terminal, a second input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the transistor, the second input terminal is coupled to the output terminal, and the output terminal provides the reference voltage.

6. The comparator as claimed in claim 5, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.

7. The comparator as claimed in claim 5, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.

8. A comparator, comprising:
a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
wherein a voltage level of the second input signal is independent of the first input signal,
wherein the buffer unit comprises:
a first transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a first node, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
a second transistor coupled between the first node and a ground, having a gate for receiving the first input signal;
a third transistor coupled between the output terminal of the voltage generator and a second node, having a gate coupled to the first node; and
a fourth transistor coupled between the second node and the ground, having a gate coupled to the first node;
wherein a voltage of the second node represents the comparison result of the first and second input signals.

9. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, further comprising:
a first inverter coupled to the second node of the buffer unit; and
a second inverter coupled to the first inverter, outputting the output signal.

10. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, wherein the buffer unit is powered by the reference voltage.

11. The comparator as claimed in claim 8, wherein a transition threshold of the buffer unit is regulated close to the second input signal.

12. A comparator, comprising:
a voltage generator, having an output terminal for providing a reference voltage; and
a buffer unit, providing an output signal according to a first input signal and the reference voltage;
wherein the voltage generator provides the reference voltage according to a second input signal, and the output signal represents a comparison result of the first and second input signals,
wherein a voltage level of the second input signal is independent of the first input signal,
wherein the voltage generator comprises:
a transistor having a gate for receiving the second input signal; and
an amplifier, having a first input terminal, a second input terminal and an output terminal, wherein the first input terminal is coupled to the transistor, the second input terminal is coupled to the output terminal, and the output terminal provides the reference voltage.