Automatic control of clock duty cycle

Abstract

In general, this disclosure is directed to a duty cycle correction (DCC) circuit that adjusts a falling edge of a clock signal to achieve a desired duty cycle. In some examples, the DCC circuit may generate a pulse in response to a falling edge of an input clock signal, delay the pulse based on a control voltage, adjust the falling edge of the input clock signal based on the delayed pulse to produce an output clock signal, and adjust the control voltage based on the difference between a duty cycle of the output clock signal and a desired duty cycle. Since the DCC circuit adjusts the falling edge of the clock cycle to achieve a desired duty cycle, the DCC may be incorporated into existing PLL control loops that adjust the rising edge of a clock signal without interfering with the operation of such PLL control loops.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure relates to clock signal management, and more specifically, to duty cycle correction circuits for a clock signal.BACKGROUNDA phase-locked loop (PLL) is often utilized within clock generation and distribution systems of an integrated circuit. In general, a PLL generates an output signal having a phase that is matched to the phase of a reference signal. The PLL is typically implemented as a control loop with the output signal being used as a negative feedback signal to control the PLL. The PLL includes a phase detector that compares the reference clock signal to the feedback clock signal to determine whether the phases of the reference clock signal and the feedback clock signal are aligned.In many PLLs, the phase detector will detect the rising edges of both signals to make this determination. Likewise, the control loop within the PLL generally moves only the rising edge of the output clock signal in order to achieve phase lock. At the same time, many exi...

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