Electro-mechanical voltage-controlled oscillator and a method for generating tunable balanced oscillations

摘要

A cross-coupled complementary balanced voltage-controlled oscillator and a method for operating same. The oscillator comprises an electro-mechanical resonator, and an oscillator core. The oscillator core comprises capacitively cross-coupled complementary inverters and a resistor network. The oscillator may comprise a frequency tuning network having inductors for increasing the tuning range. The capacitance inhibit the inverters from latching to a static direct current state. The resistor network forms a high pass filter with the capacitance to inhibit relaxation oscillations. The method comprises enabling the resistor network to form a high pass filter and starting balanced oscillations in the oscillator, the capacitance of the high pass filter for inhibiting latching, and the high pass filter for inhibiting relaxation oscillations. The method may comprise tuning the frequency by varying the capacitance of the oscillator.

主权项

1. An oscillator for generating balanced oscillations, the oscillator comprising:
an electro-mechanical resonator for creating oscillations in the oscillator; an oscillator core connected to the electro-mechanical resonator for starting and sustaining balanced oscillations in the oscillator, the oscillator core comprising first and second cross-coupled complementary inverters forming a loop, each inverter comprising an output; first and second capacitors connected in series in the loop to the outputs of the first and second cross-coupled complementary inverters, respectively, and configured to inhibit the cross-coupled complementary inverters from latching to a static direct current state when starting oscillations; and a resistor network connecting the output of the first inverter to the output of the second inverter for creating a high pass filter with the capacitors to inhibit relaxation-mode oscillations, the resistor network comprising a switchable connection to the outputs of the first and second inverters; a controller connected to the resistor network and configured to enable the switchable connection when starting the oscillations to create the high pass filter with the capacitors to inhibit relaxation-mode oscillations, and to disable the switchable connection in response to balanced oscillations in the oscillator at steady state to reduce phase noise and increase the amplitude of the balanced oscillations.