Circuit arrangement, in particular phase-locked loop, as well as corresponding method

Abstract

In order to further develop a circuit arrangement (100), in particular to a phase-locked loop for sub-clock or sub-pixel accurate phase-measurement and phase-generation, as well as a corresponding method in such way that no clock multiplier phase-locked loop is to be provided behind the time-to-digital converter and that neither an analog delay line nor a signal divider unit is to be provided between the digital ramp oscillator or discrete time oscillator and the digital-to-time converter, wherein less analog circuitry is susceptible for noise and for ground bounce in the digital environment, it is proposed to provide at least one phase measurement unit (10); - at least one loop filter unit (40; 40') being provided with at least one output signal (delta-phi) of at least one phase detector unit (30); at least one digital ramp oscillator unit or discrete time oscillator unit (50; 50') being provided with at least one output signal, in particular with at least one increment (inc), of the loop filter unit (40; 40'), the status signal (dto-status) of at least one register unit (54; 54') of the digital ramp oscillator unit or discrete time oscillator unit (50; 50') being fed back as input signal to the phase detector unit (30); and at least one digital-to-time converter unit (60, 62; 60', 62') being provided with at least one output signal (dto-co) of the digital ramp oscillator unit or discrete time oscillator unit (50; 50') and generating at least one output signal (hoi, ho2).

Description

technical field

[0001] The present invention relates to circuit arrangements, in particular to phase-locked loops and corresponding methods for phase measurement and phase generation with sub-clock or sub-pixel precision. Background technique

[0002] In a digital circuit, a clock signal needs to be generated to trigger a digital core in an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) or a latch unit (FF) in a sample-and-hold gate, specifically a flip-flop. In many cases, it is sufficient to derive this clock from a crystal oscillator.

[0003] In cases where the clock needs to have a specific frequency or phase relationship to the input signal, clock generation must be controlled. This is the field of application for frequency-locked loops (FLL), phase-locked loops (PLL) or delay-locked loops (DLL).

[0004] This control loop approach can be implemented in the analog or digital domain. In the analog domain, the time constant of the loop cannot be too large because of noise, leakage...

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