600MHz BiCMOS digitally controlled oscillator for clock recovery and frequency synthesis PLLs

A 16-bit digitally controlled BiCMOS ring oscillator (DCO) is described. This BiCMOS DCO design provides improved frequency stability under thermal fluctuations. Simulations of a 5-stage DCO using 1μm BiCMOS process parameters achieved a controllable frequency range of 90-640MHz with a linear/quasi-linear range of around 300MHz. A tiny test chip was fabricated using MOSIS Orbit 2μm low-cost analogue CMOS process technology that provides a lateral NPN bipolar device option. Monotone frequency gain (frequency vs control-word transfer function) with fine stepping (tuning) over several kHz was verified experimentally, thus auguring the prospect of accurate frequency lock in an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) application. Worstcase jitter due to digital control transitions at pathological control-word boundaries for the BiCMOS DCO was observed to be less than 50 ps. This BiCMOS design would thus provide performance enhancement in PLL applications such as clock recovery and frequency synthesis.