Self-Timed Rings: A Promising Solution for Generating High-Speed High-Resolution Low-Phase Noise Clocks

Abstract

A high-speed multi-phase oscillator based on self-timed ring is proposed. Self-timed rings (STR) are promising approach for designing high-speed serial links and clock generators. Indeed, the architecture of STR allows us to achieve high frequencies with multiphase outputs and their oscillation frequency is not only depending on the number of stages but also on the initial state of the ring. Moreover, this architecture allows us 3 dB phase noise reduction when, while keeping the same frequency, when the stage number is doubled. In this chapter, we propose a method to design STR able to generate high-speed multi-phase outputs and we suggest a design flow for designing low-phase noise self-timed ring oscillators. A test chip has been designed and fabricated in STMicroelectonics CMOS65nm technology to verify the theoretical claims and validate the simulation results.