Phase Frequency Detector With Minimal Blind Zone for Fast Frequency Acquisition

Blind zone in a phase-frequency detector (PFD) reduces the input detection range and aggravates cycle slips. This brief analyzes the blind zone in latch-based PFDs and proposes a technique that removes the blind zone caused by the precharge time of the internal nodes. With the proposed technique, the PFD achieves a small blind zone close to the limit imposed by process-voltage-temperature variations. The comparison between the proposed design and previous works is presented. Fabricated in a 130-nm CMOS technology, the measured blind zone is 61 ps, which is smaller than that of the existing topologies by almost 100 ps.

[1]  Behzad Razavi.  A Simple Precharged CMOS Phase Frequency Detector , 2003 .

[2]  F. Gardner.  Equivocation as a Cause of PLL Hangup , 1982, IEEE Trans. Commun..

[3]  Byoung Gun Choi,et al.  A 6.3-9-GHz CMOS fast settling PLL for MB-OFDM UWB applications , 2005, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[4]  Hiroshi Shibata,et al.  A 1.5-V 250-MHz to 3.0-V 622-MHz Operation CMOS Phase-Locked Loop with Precharge Type Phase-Frequency Detector , 1995 .

[5]  Sung Dae Lee,et al.  A high speed and low power phase-frequency detector and charge-pump , 1999, Proceedings of the ASP-DAC '99 Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference 1999 (Cat. No.99EX198).

[6]  E. Jafer,et al.  Design and simulation difference types CMOS phase frequency detector for high speed and low jitter PLL , 2004, Proceedings of the Fifth IEEE International Caracas Conference on Devices, Circuits and Systems, 2004..

[7]  C. Svensson,et al.  Time resolution of NMOS sampling switches used on low-swing signals , 1998 .

[8]  Roger Yubtzuan Chen,et al.  Modeling the High-Frequency Degradation of Phase/Frequency Detectors , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs.

[9]  George S. Moschytz,et al.  Trade-offs in analog circuit design : the designer's companion , 2002 .

[10]  Floyd M. Gardner,et al.  Phaselock Techniques: Gardner/Phaselock Techniques , 2005 .

[11]  X. Wang,et al.  Fast frequency acquisition phase-frequency detector with zero blind zone in PLL , 2007 .

[12]  C.-K.K. Yang,et al.  Fast frequency acquisition phase-frequency detectors for Gsamples/s phase-locked loops , 2002, IEEE J. Solid State Circuits.

[13]  F. Gardner.  Hangup in Phase-Lock Loops , 1977, IEEE Trans. Commun..