An oscillator and method for operation of the oscillator are provided. The oscillator includes a control voltage generator configured to generate a control voltage based on dividing a power voltage that was received, an offset voltage generator configured to generate an offset voltage based on dividing the power voltage that was received, a phase locked loop (PLL) including a varactor circuit configured to modify a capacitance based on the control voltage and the offset voltage, and a calibration logic circuit configured to provide a selection control signal to the control voltage generator based on the oscillation signal, and configured to provide an offset control signal to the offset voltage generator based on the oscillation signal.

The present application relates to a differential Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) circuit, which comprises a pair of transistors with control terminals biased by a common biasing voltage and a pair of couplers arranged to cross-couple corrector/drain of the transistors and the base/gate of the differential transistors. The pair of couplers have a coupling factor k.sub.c, which used to enhance the transconductance of the transistor pair, therefore can be used for power consumption reduction and phase noise minimalization.

Disclosed herein is an exceptional points of degeneracy (EPD) system with a resonator by introducing a linear time-periodic variation. In contrast, prior art systems with EPD require two coupled resonators with precise values of gain and loss and a precise symmetry of inductances and capacitances. The disclosed EPD system only requires the tuning of the modulation frequency or modulation depth, which can be easily achieved in electronic systems. The EPD is a point in a system parameters' space at which two or more eigenstates coalesce, and this leads to unique properties not occurring at other non-degenerate operating points. Also disclosed are experimental data showing the existence of a second order EPD in a time-varying single resonator and the expected sensitivity of its resonances to circuit perturbations. The disclosed EPD system exhibits structural degenerate and non-degenerate resonances whose dynamics dramatically boosts its sensitivity performance to very small perturbations. The unique sensitivity induced by an EPD can be employed to create exceptionally-sensitive sensors based on a resonator by simply applying time modulation.

A voltage controlled oscillator includes a resonator and an amplifier. The resonator includes a capacitive element and an inductive element. The inductive element has a plurality of conductive segments forming a physical loop. The inductive element has electrical connections on the physical loop to the plurality of conductive segments forming at least one electrical loop disposed within an interior space formed by the physical loop. The amplifier has an input and an output, the input coupled to a first conductive segment forming a first impedance and the output coupled to a second conductive segment forming a second impedance.

A method for enhancing linearity of the receiver front-end system includes receiving a radio frequency signal by an antenna, converting the radio frequency signal to first differential signals by a transformer module, adjusting frequencies of the first differential signals to generate second differential signals by a mixer module, detecting a common signal in order to reduce a common error of the second differential signals, and generating third differential signals according to a reference signal after the common error is reduced from the second differential signals. The first differential signals, the second differential signals, and the third differential signals are unbalanced.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a semiconductor variable capacitor. The semiconductor variable capacitor generally includes a first semiconductor region having a first doping type, a second semiconductor region having a second doping type different from the first doping type, a third semiconductor region disposed between the first semiconductor region and the second semiconductor region, a first terminal disposed adjacent to the first semiconductor region, a second terminal disposed adjacent to the second semiconductor region, and a third terminal disposed above the third semiconductor region. The first semiconductor region, the second semiconductor region, and/or the third semiconductor region include gallium nitride. The third semiconductor region includes multiple semiconductor layers having different materials. A capacitance between the first terminal and the third terminal is configured to be adjusted by varying a control voltage applied to at least one of the first terminal or the second terminal.

A circuit device includes an oscillation circuit configured to cause a resonator to oscillate, a clock signal output circuit configured to output a clock signal based on an oscillation signal from the oscillation circuit, a temperature compensation circuit configured to perform temperature compensation on an oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal, a low-potential-side power supply pad to which low-potential-side electric power is supplied, a high-potential-side power supply pad to which high-potential-side electric power is supplied, and an inter-power-supply capacitor provided between a low-potential-side power supply line electrically continuous with the low-potential-side power supply pad and a high-potential-side power supply line electrically continuous with the high-potential-side power supply pad. The inter-power-supply capacitor is formed of at least two metal layers provided in a region where the temperature compensation circuit is disposed in a plan view.

An oscillator circuit (10) for generating quadrature-related first and second oscillation signals having equal frequencies comprises a first oscillation circuit (VCO_I) configured to generate the first oscillation signal having a first controllable frequency, a second oscillation circuit (VCO_Q) configured to generate the second oscillation signal having a second controllable frequency; and a controller (100) configured to enable and disable oscillation of the first and second oscillation circuits (VCO_I, VCO_Q) and to control the first and second controllable frequencies, such that when the oscillation is enabled, the first and second controllable frequencies are controlled to be initially unequal and then to become equal.

A sensor interface circuit includes: an RF switch having a control node; a bias circuit electrically connected to the control node and applying, to the control node, a voltage at a first level or a second level corresponding to a linear region of a reflection characteristic; a first variable oscillation circuit electrically connectable to a first sensor; a second variable oscillation circuit electrically connectable to a second sensor; and a difference circuit electrically connected between the first variable oscillation circuit and the bias circuit, and between the second variable oscillation circuit and the bias circuit.

An LC tank circuit, such as an LC tank circuit of a step-tuned voltage controlled oscillator, includes an inductor and one or more capacitors. The inductor can be dog-bone shaped with a body, an extension and a chamfered joint to improve current distribution. The body and the extension can extend along different directions. The body can be narrower than the extension, and the extension can be sufficiently wide to interface with a plurality of switched capacitor circuits coupled to different parts of the extension.