Abstract:
A programmable capacitor bank includes multiple tuning elements (510y). Each tuning element includes two tuning capacitors (513y, 514y) and a pass transistor (516y) that electrically connects or disconnects the capacitors to/from common nodes. (V1z, Vrz, V1y, Vry) For a thermometer decoded capacitor bank, the tuning capacitors for all tuning elements have equal capacitance. (Ct) Each tuning element further includes at least one pull-up transistor (522y, 524y) that provides high bias voltage for the pass transistor and at least one pull-down transistor (526y, 528y) that provides low bias voltage for the pass transistor. The multiple tuning elements may be arranged in a ladder topology such that (1) the tuning elements are turned on in sequential order starting from one end of the ladder and going toward the other end of the ladder and (2) each tuning element receives biasing from a preceding tuning element and provides biasing to a succeeding tuning element. The capacitor bank may be used for VCOs and other circuits.
Abstract:
A fully integrated, programmable mixed-signal radio transceiver comprising a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) which is frequency and protocol agnostic with digital inputs and outputs, the radio transceiver being programmable and configurable for multiple radio frequency bands and standards and being capable of connecting to many networks and service providers. The RFIC includes a tunable resonant circuit that includes a transmission line having an inductance, a plurality of switchable capacitors configured to be switched into and out of the tunable resonant circuit in response to a first control signal, and at least one variable capacitor that can be varied in response to a second control signal, wherein a center resonant frequency of the resonant circuit is electronically tunable responsive to the first and second control signals that control a first capacitance value of the plurality of switchable capacitors and a second capacitance value of the at least one variable capacitor.
Abstract:
A VCO circuit for a fractional-n PLL circuit is described for implementing a direct modulation scheme. An embodiment of the invention provides a bank of switchable capacitors used to stringently control the gain of the VCO (KVCO). The capacitors provide the stringent control necessary for direct modulation. The bank of switchable capacitors is used to coarsely tune the VCO circuit. A linear capacitor is placed in series with the varactor to linearize the frequency/capacitance response of the varactor. The capacitor also serves to isolate a reference voltage that is used to bias the varactor diode to ensure the linear range of the varactor is within the voltage range of the VCO circuit power supply. The varactor is used for fine tuning of the VCO circuit. For one embodiment the input voltages to the VCO are across a resistance value sufficient to dampen noise picked up through an external loop filter.
Abstract:
The invention relates to a structural element with an integrated high-frequency circuit. A ladder network (12) is connected in parallel to a resonator circuit (1), said ladder network comprising trimming capacitors (18). Said trimming capacitors can be connected in parallel to the variable capacitance diodes (3) in the resonator circuit (1) via PIN diodes (17), thereby allowing for the resonator circuit (1) to be trimmed.
Abstract:
A radio transmitter and/or receiver comprising: an oscillator tuning circuit comprising an adjustable capacitor whose capacitance is adjustable my means of a first tuning signal; a filter tuning circuit comprising an adjustable capacitor whose capacitance is adjustable by means of a second tuning signal; an oscillator whose operational frequency is dependant on the reactance of the oscillator tuning circuit; a filter for filtering signals in the course of transmission and/or reception, and whose response is dependant on the reactance of the filter tuning circuit; and a tuning unit for generating the first and second tuning signals; wherein at least a part of the filter tuning circuit is a replica of at least a part of the oscillator tuning circuit and the tuning circuit is capable of generating one of the first and second tuning signals in dependence on the other of the tuning signals.
Abstract:
An RC oscillator has a variable capacitor (26) that sets the output frequency. The variable capacitor (26) has m binary-weighted switched capacitor arrays, and each binary-weighted switched capacitor array has binary-weighted capacitors. P binary bits are decoded into an m-bit thermometer code that selects one of the m binary-weighted switched capacitor arrays to use n binary bits to switch its binary-weighted capacitors. Other binary-weighted switched capacitor arrays have all their capacitors switched on, or all their capacitors switched off by the thermometer code. The smallest or unit capacitance of each binary-weighted switched capacitor array is adjusted to compensate for the non-linear reciprocal relationship of frequency being proportional to 1/RC. The unit capacitance is increased for each successive binary-weighted switched capacitor array to reset to the ideal linear relationship of the (p, n)-bit code to frequency.
Abstract:
The invention relates to a radio frequency oscillator (100), the radio frequency oscillator (100) comprising a resonator circuit (101) being resonant at an excitation of the resonator circuit (101) in a differential mode and at an excitation of the resonator circuit (101) in a common mode, wherein the resonator circuit (101) has a differential mode resonance frequency at the excitation in the differential mode, and wherein the resonator circuit (101) has a common mode resonance frequency at the excitation in the common mode, a first excitation circuit (103) being configured to excite the resonator circuit (101) in the differential mode to obtain a differential mode oscillator signal oscillating at the differential mode resonance frequency, and a second excitation circuit (105) being configured to excite the resonator circuit (101) in the common mode to obtain a common mode oscillator signal oscillating at the common mode resonance frequency.
Abstract:
The present invention is directed to a distributed dual-band oscillator suitable for low-phase-noise applications. The invention is configured to switch between the odd and even resonant modes of a fourth-order resonator. The switches used for mode selection do not conduct current and therefore do not affect the quality factor (Q) of the resonator. The benefit of this feature is relatively low phase noise.