Digital frequency-multiplying DLLs

[0001] This invention relates to frequency-multiplying delay-locked loops (DLLs). More particularly, this invention relates to digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs.

[0002] Frequency-multiplying DLLs typically generate a high-frequency clock signal based on a lower frequency reference signal. Such DLLs then attempt to maintain a specific phase relationship between the generated clock signal and that reference signal. A ring oscillator is used to generate an output signal approximately M times the frequency of the reference signal, where the value of M is selectable. Every M pulses of the output signal, the phase of the output signal and the reference signal are compared. The delay of the ring oscillator is then adjusted, if necessary, in response to the comparison. This resets the phase of the output signal with respect to the reference signal. Accordingly, any phase deviation that may occur can accumulate for only M cycles at most before being corrected. Often, the desired phase difference between the generated output signal and the reference signal is zero.

[0003] Conventional frequency-multiplying DLLs use analog delay units. The delay of the analog units is adjustable and can be varied by adjusting the supply voltage. These analog delay units are typically controlled by a charge pump and a loop filter. Typically, the output of an odd number of analog inverting delay units connected in series is fed-back to the input of the first unit to form a ring oscillator. The frequency at which the ring oscillator oscillates is dependent on the delay of the analog delay units. By adjusting that delay, the frequency can be varied. However, it is well known that analog designs are more difficult to mass produce within stated specifications and are less portable to various process technologies than digital designs.

[0004] In digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs, the adjustable analog delay units are replaced with digital variable delay lines. To vary the phase of an output signal using a digital variable delay line, the number, not the delay, of the delay units is varied. However, the smallest possible phase increment is typically limited to the delay through a single unit delay, which may not suffice for many applications.

[0005] In view of the foregoing, it would be desirable to be able to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop.

[0006] It would also be desirable to be able to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop with fine delay-time adjustment.

[0007] It is an object of this invention to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop.

[0008] It is also an object of this invention to provide a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop with fine delay-time adjustment.

[0009] In accordance with the invention, a digital variable delay line replaces the analog delay units of a standard frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop (DLL). To produce a variable frequency ring oscillator, the number of digital delay units used in the ring oscillator is varied. The resolution of a DLL is a measure of the DLL's precision. The phase error of a DLL cannot generally be adjusted below the resolution. A digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL having a variable delay line in accordance with the invention can achieve a resolution of 2*t_ud for each oscillation of the variable delay line, where t_ud is the time of one delay unit. An overall resolution of 2*M*t_ud, where M is the multiplication factor of the DLL, can be achieved.

[0010] The invention also provides a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL with fine-tuning capabilities. Through the use of at least two variable delay lines and a single phase mixer (i.e., one phase mixer stage), the overall resolution provided by the DLL can be reduced by a factor of L to (2*M*t_ud)/L, where L is the number of interpolated phases that can be produced by the phase mixer. Interpolated phases are the fractional phase shift increments of a delay unit that a phase mixer stage can shift the phase of the output signal. For example, if a phase mixer stage can shift the phase of the output signal in increments of 1/10 the unit delay, then L=10.

[0011] Multiple phase mixer stages can be added to provide further fine tuning capabilities. Each subsequent phase mixer stage reduces the overall resolution of the system by a further factor of L. For example, two phase mixer stages each having an L=10 reduces the overall resolution of the system by a factor of 100 (the first phase mixer stage allows the output to be adjusted in 1/10 increments of a delay unit, while the second phase mixer stage allows the output to be further adjusted in 1/10 increments of the first stage's 1/10 increments).

[0024] The invention provides a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying delay-locked loop (DLL) that provides programmable clock multiplication with little, if any, phase error.

[0025] FIG. 1 shows a typical analog frequency-multiplying DLL 100. (Note that DLL 100 is a differential circuit and that, for clarity, pairs of differential signals will be referred to collectively in singular form. For example, instead of referring to BCLK and BCLK′ (its complement), both will be referred to as BCLK.) Reference clock signal RCLK is input into DLL 100, and high-frequency output signal BCLK is output at a frequency M times the frequency of clock signal RCLK. The phase difference between RCLK and BCLK is ideally zero.

[0026] DLL 100 includes multiplexer 104 and delay elements 101–103 coupled to form a ring oscillator. Reference clock signal RCLK enters analog inverting delay element 101 via multiplexer 104. After the rising edge of signal RCLK is received, multiplexer 104 switches through the output of final inverting delay element 103. The output of multiplexer 104 is signal XCLK. The ring oscillator oscillates with a period of approximately twice the delay around inverting delay elements 101–103, forming high-frequency output signal BCLK. Programmable divide-by-M counter 105 counts the number of cycles of BCLK and generates signal pulse LAST every M cycles of BCLK. Pulse LAST triggers select logic 106 at the next falling transition of BCLK to generate signal SEL. SEL switches the output of multiplexer 104 to pass RCLK to analog inverting delay element 101, thus resetting the phase of the ring oscillator to the phase of RCLK. One advantage of this arrangement is that any phase error resulting from the ring oscillator accumulates over only M cycles of BCLK before the oscillator is reset to the phase of RCLK.

[0027] The ring oscillator is controlled by phase detector 107, charge pump 108, and voltage buffer 109. After M cycles of the high-frequency ring oscillator, when SEL is asserted, phase detector 107 measures the phase difference between RCLK and BCLK. With zero phase difference, one cycle of RCLK should occur for every M cycles of BCLK. The output of phase detector 107 causes charge pump 108 and voltage buffer 109 to change the loop control voltage, which controls the delay of inverting delay elements 101–103. Controlling the delay of inverting delay elements 101–103 controls the oscillation frequency of the ring oscillator. After each cycle of RCLK, the phase error (if any) over the M cycles of BCLK is detected and corrected. Once the phase error has been corrected (to preferably the minimum achievable value), DLL 100 is said to be “locked.”

[0028] Frequency-multiplying DLL 100 relies on analog inverting delay elements 101–103, and their precise control, to minimize any phase error between RCLK and BCLK. Disadvantages of such analog elements are that they are more difficult to design, more difficult to mass produce consistently within specifications, and less portable to various process technologies than digital elements.

[0029] FIG. 2 shows digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 200 in accordance with the invention. Like frequency-multiplying DLL 100, digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 200 includes multiplexer 204, divide-by-M counter 205, select logic 206, and phase detector 207, which all operate in a similar or identical manner as their corresponding counterparts in DLL 100. DLL 200 preferably also includes variable delay 201 and delay control logic 202, which advantageously replaces inverting delay elements 101–103, charge pump 108 and voltage buffer 109.

[0030] An embodiment of variable delay 201 is shown in more detail in FIG. 3. Variable delay 201 includes a series of N unit delay elements 300 that preferably all have a propagation unit delay time of approximately t_ud. Variable delay 201 receives input signal XCLK and control inputs RESET and S₀ through S_N-1. Variable delay 201 outputs signal BCLK. During normal operation of variable delay 201, signal RESET is set to a HIGH logic state (i.e., the reset function is disabled; a LOW logic state activates the reset function) and all but one of control signals S₀ through S_N-1 are set to a LOW logic state. One control signal is set to a HIGH logic state. In one embodiment, signal S₀ is set HIGH at startup. When input signal XCLK is received, variable delay 201 outputs signal BCLK, which is an inverted and delayed version of XCLK. The length of the delay depends on which control signal S₀ through S_N-1 is set to a HIGH logic state. For example, if control signal S₁ is set to a HIGH logic state, the total delay of variable delay 201 is approximately 2.5*t_ud (i.e., the total delay time through NAND gate 305 and two delay elements 300 (those associated with signals S₁ and S₀)). If control signal S₀ is set to a HIGH logic state, the delay of variable delay 201 decreases by one delay unit (i.e., the delay time through one delay element 300).

[0031] When BCLK of variable delay 201 is fed-back to the XCLK input via multiplexer 204, a ring oscillator is formed. The oscillation period of the ring oscillator can be set from 3*t_ud to (2N+1)*t_ud.

[0032] Returning to FIG. 2, variable delay 201 is controlled by delay control logic 202, which is coupled to phase detector 207. Phase detector 207 measures the phase difference between RCLK and BCLK and sends control signals indicating that difference to delay control logic 202. For example, signal UP may indicate a positive phase difference to delay control logic 202 and that it should increase the delay provided by variable delay 201, while signal DN may do the opposite. Signals UP and DN may also indicate the magnitude of the phase difference. Delay control logic 202 sends appropriate control signals S₀ through S_n-1 to variable delay 201 to change the delay and preferably minimize any phase difference between RCLK and BCLK (assuming a zero phase difference is desired). In another embodiment of the invention, phase detector 207 may output a signal proportional to the measured phase difference, and delay control logic 202 may respond by issuing appropriate control signals to variable delay 201.

[0033] Advantageously, variable delay 201 allows digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 200 to vary the frequency of output BCLK. This variation is achieved by selecting the number of unit delay elements to use (e.g., 2 out of N or 5 out of N, where N is the total number of unit delay elements in the ring oscillator), as opposed to varying the delay times of each of a fixed number of analog delay elements.

[0034] The operation of digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 200 is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, which show signal timings of unlocked and locked digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs, respectively.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 4, delay control logic 202 is set such that only S₀ is in a HIGH logic state. Variable delay 201 is therefore set to its minimum delay, and the ring oscillator frequency is set to its maximum. As a result, BCLK completes M cycles well before the rising edge 402 of RCLK. Note the phase error in this unlocked state. At the Mth clock rising transition 401 of BCLK, the divide-by-M counter 205 asserts signal LAST at 403, which activates select logic 206. Select logic 206 asserts signal SEL at 405 after the BCLK falling transition 404. SEL switches multiplexer 204 at 406 to pass its RCLK input. During this period, the DLL stops oscillation. If stopping oscillation more quickly is necessary, RESET may be asserted as well. Phase detector 207, which is also activated by SEL, compares the rising transition 407 of BCLK with the rising transition 402 of RCLK and generates signals UP and DN (see FIG. 2) according to the polarity of the phase error. Delay control logic 202 then moves the HIGH state back and forth among S₀ to S_N-1 to reduce the phase error of the DLL. Select logic 206 deasserts SEL at the rising transition 402 of RCLK, which restarts the ring oscillator with its phase reset to the phase of RCLK.

[0036] FIG. 5 shows a timing diagram of a locked DLL, which occurs after variable delay 201 has been set to its most optimum setting and the phase error has been reduced to preferably its minimum value.

[0037] Although DLL 200 has many advantages over conventional analog DLLs (e.g., easier to design, more reliable manufacturing, and greater portability to various process technologies), performance of this embodiment may be limited by unit delay time (t_ud). Variable delay 201 is adjustable in delay increments resulting from each unit delay element 300. When adjusting BCLK, the phase difference between BCLK and RCLK cannot be adjusted to a precision finer than one unit delay time (t_ud). Thus, each oscillation can have a maximum precision of 2*t_ud (i.e., one unit delay for each rising and falling edge of the signal). This phase error accumulates over M oscillations. Thus the overall resolution of this embodiment is 2*M*t_ud.

[0038] FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of a digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL in accordance with this invention. DLL 600 has fine delay-time adjustment and can adjust the oscillation period of high-frequency outputs BCLK1 and BCLK2 by increments smaller than one unit delay, thus achieving a resolution superior to DLL 200. DLL 600 includes two variable delays 601 and 602, two multiplexers 603 and 604, two phase mixers 605 and 606, two divide-by-M counters 607 and 608, two select logics 609 and 610, phase detector 611, and delay control logic 612. DLL 600 has two ring oscillator loops which are interconnected to phase mixers 605 and 606. The output of variable delays 601 and 602, XCLK1B and XCLK2B, are not directly fed-back to their respective multiplexers 603 and 604 as in the previous embodiment. Instead, XCLK1B and XCLK2B are each connected to both phase mixers 605 and 606.

[0039] Phase mixers 605 and 606 preferably have linear mixing characteristics and zero propagation delay. The output of the phase mixers are signals each having a phase equal to a weighted linear combination of the phases of the two input signals. The operation of phase mixers 605 and 606 can be expressed as follows:
φ_BCLK1,BCLK2=K*φ_XCLK2B+(1−K)*Φ_XCLK1B
where k is a weighting factor. If phase mixers 605 and 606 generate L interpolated phases, then k can be set as k=p/L, where p=0, 1, 2, . . . , L.

[0040] FIG. 7 shows signal timings of phase mixers 605 and 606. For the signals shown, k is approximately 0.5. The phases of the two incoming signals XCLK1B and XCLK2B are therefore combined equally to form signals BCLK1 and BCLK2. Note that the rising and falling edges of BCLK1 and BCLK2 are each an average of the rising and falling edges of XCLK1B and XCLK2B, respectively. If k were set to another value, the output of the phase mixer would no longer be an equal average of the two signals, but would be weighted towards one or the other depending on the value of k.

[0041] Returning to FIG. 6, the output of phase mixer 605 is connected to divide-by-M counter 607, select logic 609, and multiplexer 603. The output of phase mixer 606 is connected to divide-by-M counter 608, select logic 610, and multiplexer 604. Phase mixing XCLK1B and XCLK2B to form BCLK1 and BCLK2 results in a smaller phase difference than possible with DLL 200, as illustrated in the timing diagrams of FIGS. 8 and 9.

[0042] FIG. 8 shows input and output signals of digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 600 in an unlocked, startup state. Note that the phase error is similar to the phase error shown in FIG. 4 for the unlocked state of DLL 200.

[0043] FIG. 9 shows input and output signals of digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 600 after coarse and fine tuning adjustments have been made. The phase error shown between the BCLK1-a and BCLK2-a waveform and the RCLK waveform represents an intermediate result of DLL 600 after coarse tuning has been completed (i.e., delay controls 624 and 625 of variable delays 601 and 602 are respectively set to their optimal settings). Coarse tuning is the type of tuning made by DLL 200. Thus, the reduced phase error shown for BCLK1-a and BCLK2-a is similar to the reduced phase error shown in FIG. 5 for DLL 200. The phase error shown between the BCLK1-b and BCLK2-b waveform and the RCLK waveform represents a final result of DLL 600 after fine tuning has been completed.

[0044] Fine tuning occurs after preferably optimal and identical settings for delay controls 624 and 625 are made. One of these delay controls is increased or decreased, generally by one unit time delay, depending on the polarity of the measured phase error. After this adjustment, delay control logic 612 adjusts PM (phase mixer) control 623 to a value of k which preferably results in the minimum phase error. DLL 600 is now in a locked state.

[0045] If outputs BCLK1 and BCLK2 of DLL 600 lose their lock with RCLK, and the measured phase error exceeds the range of fine tuning with phase mixers 605 and 606, variable delays 601 and 602 may be used to reestablish coarse tuning. After coarse tuning is completed, fine tuning may again be used to reestablish the preferably minimum phase error.

[0046] DLL 200 has a maximum resolution of 2*M*t_ud. With fine delay-time adjustment, the minimum adjustable value for output signals BCLK1 and BCLK2 is equal to unit delay time (t_ud) divided by L (t_ud/L), where L is the number of phase interpolations provided by phase mixers 605 and 606. Thus, each oscillation can have a maximum precision of 2*t_ud/L. Because phase error can accumulate over M oscillations, the overall resolution is 2*M*t_ud/L, a factor of L smaller than a DLL of the invention without fine delay-time adjustment.

[0047] Digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLL 600 has one PM control 623 to control phase mixers 605 and 606. Because both phase mixers 605 and 606 are set to the same value, the outputs BCLK1 and BCLK2 are identical. Thus, there is no need for two separate divide-by-M counters 607 and 608 or select logics 609 and 610. However, with a few modifications, all of these components can be used to implement an even more precise embodiment of a DLL.

[0048] FIG. 10 shows such an embodiment of a DLL in accordance with the invention. DLL 1000 permits separate adjustments to phase mixers 605 and 606 and adds a third phase mixer 1005 to phase mix their outputs. This adds an additional level of fine delay-time adjustment. After coarse tuning with variable delays 601 and 602, and fine tuning with phase mixers 605 and 606, another stage of fine tuning is advantageously performed with phase mixer 1005. The resolution of DLL 1000 is approximately (2*M*t_ud)/L².

[0049] Depending of course on available circuit space, more stages of phase mixers can be added to DLL 1000 to achieve even finer resolution in accordance with the invention.

[0050] FIG. 11 shows a system that incorporates the invention. System 1100 includes a plurality of DRAM chips 1175, a processor 1170, a memory controller 1172, input devices 1174, output devices 1176, and optional storage devices 1178. Data and control signals are transferred between processor 1170 and memory controller 1172 via bus 1171. Similarly, data and control signals are transferred between memory controller 1172 and DRAM chips 1175 via bus 1173. One or more DRAM chips 1110 include a digital frequency-multiplying DLL in accordance with the invention. Input devices 1174 can include, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch-pad display screen, or any other appropriate device that allows a user to enter information into system 1100. Output devices 1176 can include, for example, a video display unit, a printer, or any other appropriate device capable of providing output data to a user. Note that input devices 1174 and output devices 1176 can alternatively be a single input/output device. Storage devices 1178 can include, for example, one or more disk or tape drives.

[0051] Note that the invention is not limited to DRAM chips, but is applicable to other systems and integrated circuits that have frequency-multiplying DLLs.

[0052] Thus it is seen that digitally-controlled frequency-multiplying DLLs are provided. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.