Multiphase clock generators with controlled clock impulse width for programmable high order rotator SC FIR filters realized in 0.35 μm CMOS technology

Complexity of clock generator is one of the most important parameters in the design and optimization of switched-capacitor (SC) finite impulse response (FIR) filters. There are different SC FIR filter architectures. Some of them need a simple clock generator but the others require a quite complicated multiphase clock system. In the latter case an external clock system (i.e., outside the integrated circuit) is unrealistic because of a great number of the required external pins. We have implemented various SC FIR filter architectures together with complex internal clock generators in the CMOS 0.8 μm and 0.35 μm technologies. One of the most important problems in the design process was the optimization of waveforms and widths of the clock impulses. SC FIR filters are very sensitive to parameters of clock systems. Thus the clock generators must be designed very precisely. We demonstrate results of the design of the 64-phase clock generator for a programmable rotator SC FIR filter. In our approach the width of the clock impulses is controlled by two external signals. This is a very convenient solution, because optimization of the clock impulses, which was difficult in other approaches, is currently much easier. The internal clock generator area is ca. 0.15 mm2 in the CMOS 0.35 μm technology, i.e., only 7 % of the entire SC FIR filter chip area.