Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims the priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/257,237, filed on Nov. 19, 2015, which is included herein by reference in its entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Some phase-locked loops (PLLs) may be designed to have an active filter to have a capacitance multiplier effect. However, such designs need two charge pumps to provide two different currents to the active filter. The two charge pumps may increase the chip area and the manufacturing costs. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a charge pump sharing technique to solve the above-mentioned problem. 
         [0004]    According to one embodiment of the present invention, a charge pump comprises a current source circuit, a current sink circuit and a switch circuit. The switch circuit is coupled between the current source circuit and the current sink circuit, and is arranged for generating a first current at a first output terminal and generating a second current at a second output terminal according to a first control signal and a second control signal, wherein each of the first current and the second current is generated from the current source circuit. 
         [0005]    According to another embodiment of the present invention, a phase-locked loop comprises a phase frequency detector, a charge pump, an active filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator and a frequency divider. The phase frequency detector is arranged for comparing a reference clock with a feedback clock to generate a first control signal and a second control signal. The charge pump comprises a current source circuit, a current sink circuit and a switch circuit, wherein the switch circuit is arranged for generating a first current at a first output terminal and generating a second current at a second output terminal according to at least one of the first control signal and the second control signal, and each of the first current and the second current is generated from the current source circuit. The active filter is arranged for generating a control signal according to the first current and the second current. The voltage-controlled oscillator is coupled to the active filter, and is arranged for generating an oscillation signal according to the control signal. The frequency divider is coupled to the voltage-controlled oscillator, and is arranged for frequency dividing the oscillation signal to generate the feedback signal. 
         [0006]    According to another embodiment of the present invention, a clock and data recovery comprises a phase detector, a charge pump, an active filter and a voltage-controlled oscillator. The phase detector is arranged for comparing a reference clock with a feedback clock to generate a first control signal and a second control signal. The charge pump comprises a current source circuit, a current sink circuit and a switch circuit, wherein the switch circuit is arranged for generating a first current at a first output terminal and generating a second current at a second output terminal according to the first control signal and the second control signal, and each of the first current and the second current is generated from the current source circuit. The active filter is arranged for generating a control signal according to the first current and the second current. The voltage-controlled oscillator is coupled to the active filter, and is arranged for generating the feedback clock according to the control signal. 
         [0007]    These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is a diagram illustrating a PLL according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  is a diagram illustrating a CDR according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating a charge pump according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0011]      FIG. 4  shows the circuit structure of the charge pump shown in  FIG. 3  according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 5  is a diagram showing a dead zone of the charge pump. 
           [0013]      FIG. 6  shows a diagram illustrating the operation of the charge pump when the down signal DN is replaced by a new down signal DN′ with the fixed pulse width and the reference clock CK_REF leads the feedback clock CK_FB. 
           [0014]      FIG. 7  shows a diagram illustrating the operation of the charge pump when the down signal DN is replaced by a new down signal DN′ with the fixed pulse width and the reference clock CK_REF lags the feedback clock CK_FB. 
           [0015]      FIG. 8  is a diagram illustrating a charge pump according to another embodiment of the present invention 
           [0016]      FIG. 9  is a timing diagram of the signals of the charge pump when the duty cycle of the selection signal is 1:1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 10  is a timing diagram of the signals of the charge pump when the duty cycle of the selection signal is 1:N or N:1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 11  shows the circuit structure of the charge pump shown in  FIG. 8  according to one embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0019]    Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, manufacturers may refer to a component by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function. In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ” The terms “couple” and “couples” are intended to mean either an indirect or a direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections 
         [0020]    Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a diagram illustrating a PLL  100  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the PLL  100  comprises a phase frequency detector  110 , a charge pump  120 , an active filter  120 , a voltage-controlled oscillator  140  and a frequency divider  150 , where the active filter  120  comprises an operational amplifier  132 , a resistor R 1  and two capacitors C 1  and C 2 . In this embodiment, only one charge pump  120  is positioned in the PLL  100  to provide two currents Ic and Ir to the active filter  130 . In the operations of the PLL  100 , the phase frequency detector  110  compares a reference clock CK_REF and a feedback clock CK_FB to generate a first control signal and a second control signal (hereinafter, an up signal UP and a down signal DN), and in an optional design, the phase frequency detector  110  further generates a selection signal SEL to the charge pump  120 . The charge pump  120  receives the up signal UP, the down signal DN and the selection signal, if any, to generate two currents Ic and Ir. The active filter  130  generates a control signal Vc according to the currents Ic and Ir. The voltage-controlled oscillator  140  generates an oscillation signal CK according to the control signal Vc. The frequency divider  150  frequency divides the oscillation signal CK to generate the feedback signal CK_FB. 
         [0021]    Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is a diagram illustrating a clock and data recovery (CDR)  200  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the CDR  200  comprises a phase detector  210 , a charge pump  220 , an active filter  220  and a voltage-controlled oscillator  240 , where the active filter  220  comprises an operational amplifier  232 , a resistor R 2  and two capacitors C 3  and C 4 . In this embodiment, only one charge pump  220  is positioned in the CDR  200  to provide two currents Ic and Ir to the active filter  230 . In the operations of the CDR  200 , the phase detector  210  compares a reference clock CK_REF and a feedback clock CK_FB to generate an up signal UP and a down signal DN, and in an optional design, the phase detector  210  further generates a selection signal to the charge pump  220 . The charge pump  220  receives the up signal UP, the down signal DN and the selection signal, if any, to generate two currents Ic and Ir. The active filter  230  generates a control signal Vc according to the currents Ic and Ir. The voltage-controlled oscillator  240  generates a feedback clock CK_FB according to the control signal Vc. 
         [0022]    The following embodiments focus on the designs of the charge pump  120 / 220 , and the detailed circuit structures and operations of the other elements are omitted here. 
         [0023]    Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a diagram illustrating a charge pump  300  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 3 , the charge pump  300  comprises a current source circuit  302 , a current sink circuit  304  and a switch circuit, where the switch circuit comprises four switches SW 1 -SW 4 . In this embodiment, the switch SW 1  is coupled between the current source circuit  302  and an output terminal N 1 , and the switch SW 1  selectively connects the current source circuit  302  to the output terminal N 1  according to the up signal UP; the switch SW 2  is coupled between the current sink circuit  304  and the output terminal N 1 , and the switch SW 2  selectively connects the current sink circuit  304  to the output terminal N 1  according to the down signal DN; the switch SW 3  is coupled between the current source circuit  302  and an output terminal N 2 , and the switch SW 3  selectively connects the current source circuit  302  to the output terminal N 2  according to the down signal DN; and the switch SW 4  is coupled between the current sink circuit  304  and the output terminal N 2 , and the switch SW 4  selectively connects the current sink circuit  304  to the output terminal N 2  according to the up signal UP. In this embodiment, when the up signal UP is equal to “1”, the switches SW 1  and SW 4  are turned on, and a current generated from the current source circuit  302  flows through the switch SW 1  and output terminal N 1  to serve as the current Ir, and the current Ic flows to the current sink circuit  304  via the output terminal N 2  and the switch SW 4 ; and when the down signal DN is equal to “1”, the switches SW 2  and SW 3  are turned on, and the current generated from the current source circuit  302  flows through the switch SW 3  and output terminal N 2  to serve as the current Ic, and the current Ir flows to the current sink circuit  304  via the output terminal N 1  and the switch SW 2 . 
         [0024]      FIG. 4  shows the circuit structure of the charge pump  300  shown in  FIG. 3  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 4 , the switches SW 1  and SW 3  are implemented by PMOSs, the switches SW 2  and SW 4  are implemented by NMOSs, and the symbol “UPB” is an inverted signal of the up signal UP, and the symbol “DNB” is an inverted signal of the down signal DN. 
         [0025]    In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , only one current source  302  and only one current circuit  304  are designed in the charge pump  300  to provide two currents Ic and Ir to the following active filter  130 / 230 . Therefore, comparing with the prior art PLL/CDR having two charge pumps, the embodiment can lower the chip area. 
         [0026]    The charge pump  300  shown in  FIG. 3  can be used in the CDR  200  or the PLL  100 . However, when the charge pump  300  is applied to the PLL  100 , the switches SW 1 -SW 4  may not turn on fully because the phases of the reference clock CK_REF and the feedback clock CK_FB are too close, and therefore a dead zone is caused. Please refer to  FIG. 5 , which is a diagram showing a dead zone of the charge pump. When a phase difference Δφ of the reference clock CK_REF and the feedback clock CK_FB is small, that is phase difference Δφ is in the dead zone, pulse widths of the up signal UP and the down signal DN are very short, e.g. 10 ps. Therefore, the switches SW 1 -SW 4  may not turn on fully due to the short pulse widths, and the charge pump  300  may not generate sufficient charges Q to provide the currents Ir and Ic. 
         [0027]    To solve this problem, one of the up signal UP and the down signal DN may be replaced by a signal having a fixed pulse width, e.g. 100 ps, to provide a bleed current to make the phase difference Δφ not in the dead zone. In detail, please refer to  FIG. 6 , which shows a diagram illustrating the operation of the charge pump  300  when the down signal DN is replaced by a new down signal DN′ with the fixed pulse width and the reference clock CK_REF leads the feedback clock CK_FB. As shown in  FIG. 6 , since the new down signal DN′ has a fixed pulse width such as 100 ps, the pulse width of the up signal UP will not be too short to fully turn on the corresponding switches SW 1  and SW 4  even if the phase difference Δφ of the reference clock CK_REF and the feedback clock CK_FB is very small, that is the operating point OP will be forced not in the dead zone. In addition, please refer to  FIG. 7 , which shows a diagram illustrating the operation of the charge pump  300  when the down signal DN is replaced by a new down signal DN′ with the fixed pulse width and the reference clock CK_REF lags the feedback clock CK_FB. Similar to the embodiment shown in  FIG. 6 , because the new down signal DN′ has a fixed pulse width such as 100 ps, the pulse width of the up signal UP will not be too short to fully turn on the corresponding switches SW 1  and SW 4  even if the phase difference Δφ of the reference clock CK_REF and the feedback clock CK_FB is very small, that is the operating point OP will be forced not in the dead zone. 
         [0028]    In this embodiment, the new down signal DN′ can be obtained from any other appropriate circuits, and the down signal DN generated from phase frequency detector  112  is not used in the charge pump. 
         [0029]    The embodiments shown in  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7  replace the down signal DN by the signal having a fixed pulse width, but it&#39;s not a limitation of the present invention. In other embodiments, the up signal UP can be replaced by a new up signal having a fixed pulse width such as 100 ps, while the down signal DN is not changed. This alternative design shall fall within the scope of the present invention. 
         [0030]    Please refer to  FIG. 8 , which is a diagram illustrating a charge pump  800  according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 8 , the charge pump  800  comprises a current source circuit  802 , a current sink circuit  804  and a switch circuit, where the switch circuit comprises eight switches SW 1 -SW 8 . In this embodiment, the switch SW 1  is coupled between the current source circuit  802  and an output terminal N 1 , and the switch SW 1  is selectively connecting the current source circuit  802  to the output terminal N 1  according to the up signal UP and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 2  is coupled between the current sink circuit  804  and the output terminal N 1 , and the switch SW 2  is selectively connecting the current sink circuit  804  to the output terminal N 1  according to the down signal DN and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 3  is coupled between the current source circuit  802  and an output terminal N 2 , and the switch SW 3  is selectively connecting the current source circuit  802  to the output terminal N 2  according to the down signal DN and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 4  is coupled between the current sink  804  and the output terminal N 2 , and the switch SW 4  is selectively connecting the current sink circuit  804  to the output terminal N 2  according to the up signal UP and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 5  is coupled between the current source circuit  802  and an output terminal N 3 , and the switch SW 5  is selectively connecting the current source circuit  802  to the output terminal N 3  according to the up signal UP and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 6  is coupled between the current sink circuit  804  and the output terminal N 3 , and the switch SW 6  is selectively connecting the current sink circuit  804  to the output terminal N 3  according to the down signal DN and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 7  is coupled between the current source circuit  802  and an output terminal N 4 , and the switch SW 7  is selectively connecting the current source circuit  802  to the output terminal N 4  according to the down signal DN and the selection signal SEL; the switch SW 8  is coupled between the current sink circuit  804  and the output terminal N 4 , and the switch SW 8  is selectively connecting the current sink circuit  804  to the output terminal N 4  according to the up signal UP and the selection signal SEL. In  FIG. 8 , the output terminals N 3  and N 4  are supplied by a bias voltage VB, the symbol “UPB” is an inverted signal of the up signal UP, the symbol “DNB” is an inverted signal of the down signal DN, the symbol “SELB” is an inverted signal of the selection signal SEL, and the symbol “.” is an “AND” operator. 
         [0031]    In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 8 , a time-division mechanism is applied to make the charge pump  800  to generate the currents Ir and Ic alternately. In this embodiment, when the up signal UP is equal to “1” and the selection signal SEL is equal to “0”, the switch SW 1  is turned on, and a current generated from the current source circuit  802  flows through the switch SW 1  and output terminal N 1  to serve as the current Ir; when the up signal UP is equal to “1” and the selection signal SEL is equal to “1”, the switch SW 4  is turned on, and the current Ic flows to the current sink circuit  804  via the output terminal N 2  and the switch SW 4 ; when the down signal DN is equal to “1” and the selection signal SEL is equal to “0”, the switch SW 2  is turned on, and the current Ir flows to the current sink circuit  804  via the output terminal N 1  and the switch SW 2 ; and when the down signal UP is equal to “1” and the selection signal SEL is equal to “1”, the switch SW 3  is turned on, and a current generated from the current source circuit  802  flows through the switch SW 1  and output terminal N 1  to serve as the current Ic. 
         [0032]    In addition, to achieve the capacitance multiplier effect of the active filter  130 / 230 , the charge current and discharge current (i.e. Ir and Ic) of the charge pump  800  are desired to be different. Therefore, in one embodiment, the current source circuit  802  and the current sink circuit  804  are variable current source/sink, and the currents are adjusted dynamically; and in another embodiment, the duty cycle of the selection signal SEL is controlled to be 1:N or N:1 (N is greater than one), to make the currents Ir and Ic to have different values. In detail, please refer to  FIG. 9 , which is a timing diagram of the signals of the charge pump  800  when the duty cycle of the selection signal is 1:1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 9 , the selection signal SEL is generated by frequency dividing the reference clock CK_REF or the feedback clock CK_FB with a factor  2 , and the selection signal SEL has a duty cycle 1:1. In this embodiment, if it is desired that Ir=3*Ic, the current provided by the current source circuit  802  and the current sink circuit  804  when the selection signal SEL is equal to “0” is three times the current provided by the current source circuit  802  and the current sink circuit  804  when the selection signal SEL is equal to “1”. By adjusting the current source circuit  802  and the current sink circuit  804  alternately according to a voltage level (i.e. “0” or “1”) of the selection signal SEL, the charge pump  800  can provide different charge current and discharge current to the following active filter  130 / 230 . 
         [0033]    Please refer to  FIG. 10 , which is a timing diagram of the signals of the charge pump  800  when the duty cycle of the selection signal is 1:N or N:1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. In  FIG. 10 , the selection signal SEL is generated by frequency dividing the reference clock CK_REF or the feedback clock CK_FB, and the duty cycle is adjusted to be 1:N or N:1. In this embodiment, if it is desired that Ir=3*Ic, the duty cycle of the selection signal SEL is designed to be 1:3. By controlling the ratio of the charging period and the discharging period, the charge pump  800  can provide different charge current and discharge current to the following active filter  130 / 230 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 11  shows the circuit structure of the charge pump  800  shown in  FIG. 8  according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in  FIG. 8 , the switches SW 1 , SW 3 , SW 5  and SW 7  are implemented by PMOSs, the switches SW 2 , SW 4 , SW 6  and SW 8  are implemented by NMOSs. 
         [0035]    In the embodiment shown in  FIGS. 8 and 11 , because of the switches SW 5 -SW 8  and the bias voltage VB, the charge pump  800  may not suffer the dead zone problem, so the charge pump  800  can be applied to each of the PLL  100  and the CDR  200 . 
         [0036]    Briefly summarized, the present invention provides a charge pump sharing circuit to generate two currents Ir and Ic by using only one current source and only one current sink, and charge pump of the embodiments can be used in the PLL or CDR having the active filter. Because only one charge pump is required in the PLL or CDR, the chip area can be indeed reduced to lower the manufacturing costs. 
         [0037]    Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

Technology Category: 5