Frequency divider, frequency dividing device and method

Abstract

In one embodiment, a local oscillator and mixer architecture may include a frequency divider having I and Q channel master storage elements formed of devices of a first size, and I and Q channel slave storage elements formed of devices of a second size, where the second size is smaller than the first size. In such manner, power consumption may be reduced while reducing phase noise in signals provided from the frequency divider to the corresponding mixer.

Description

technical field [0001] This invention relates to circuits used in integrated circuits (ICs), and more particularly to circuits used in generating frequencies for processing quadrature signals. Background technique [0002] Downconversion occurs in many systems including receivers, tuners, radios, cellular telephones, etc., where a signal received at a very high frequency, such as radio frequency (RF), is received and processed to obtain a lower frequency signal for further processing. Such lower frequency signals may include intermediate frequency (IF) signals, such as low IF signals. In other systems, the RF signal may be directly down-converted to a zero-IF signal. [0003] Typically, this is done by taking a received signal at a first frequency (typically RF) and mixing with a local oscillator (LO) frequency to obtain the desired IF or other lower frequency signal This down conversion. In some systems, the LO frequency may be generated using a crystal oscillator or ot...

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Problems solved by technology

[0006] Also, the divider should be well shielded because there are signals with a 45° phase offset in this divider, and asymmetric coupling between these signals can cause attenuation

Also, the divider should dissipate low power especially when the circuit operates at gigahertz frequencies

[0007] However, these different criteria lead to expensive and inefficient designs, especially in terms of power consumption

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