A Scaled Thermal-Diffusivity-Based 16 MHz Frequency Reference in 0.16 µm CMOS

Abstract

This paper presents a 16 MHz frequency reference that exploits the well-defined thermal diffusivity of IC-grade silicon. After a room temperature trim, its absolute inaccuracy is ±0.1% from -55°C to 125°C (24 samples), while its cycle-to-cycle jitter is less than 45 ps (rms) at a power dissipation of 2.1 mW from a 1.8 V supply. The reference occupies 0.5 mm2 in a 0.16 μ m standard CMOS process. Compared to a previous design in an older 0.7 μm CMOS process, it achieves 10× higher frequency, 7× less jitter, 3.7× less power, and 12x less chip area, while maintaining the same level of accuracy.