A low voltage inverter-based amplifier includes a first inverter-based amplification module, a second inverter-based amplification module, an inverter-based feedforward module, and an inverter-based common mode detector. The first inverter-based amplification module receives an input signal. The second inverter-based amplification module receives the input signal through the inverter-based feedforward module, and receives a first output signal from the first inverter-based amplification module. The inverter-based common mode detector receives an amplified signal from the second inverter-based amplification module, and outputs a feedback signal to the second inverter-based amplification module. Since the first and the second inverter-based amplification modules are both inverter-based, the supply voltage of the low voltage inverter-based amplifier is provided to supply one PMOS and one NMOS for normal operation. Therefore, a number of cascade MOSs of the low voltage inverter-based amplifier is two, and the low voltage inverter-based amplifier can be normally operated under the low supply voltage.

A divider-less phase locked loop (PLL) includes a phase frequency detector (PFD), a charge pump (CP), a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), a delay unit, and a clock gating unit. The PFD is electrically connected to the VCO through the CP, and the CP outputs a voltage control signal to the VCO. The VCO generates an output signal. The delay unit receives and delays a reference signal to generate a delay signal. The clock gating unit samples the output signal according to the delay signal. Since the clock gating unit samples the output signal according to the delay signal, the divider-less PLL does not need to include a divider to divide a frequency of the output signal. Therefore, power consumption of the divider-less PLL can be reduced.

A local oscillator generation system includes a first frequency divider configured to divide frequencies of a first voltage controlled oscillator signal and a second voltage controlled oscillator signal by 2, and output a first divided signal and a second divided signal; a mixer configured to mix the first voltage controlled oscillator signal, the second voltage controlled oscillator signal, the first divided signal, and the second divided signal, and output a first frequency mixed signal and a second frequency mixed signal; a transimpedance amplifier configured to amplify the first frequency mixed signal and the second frequency mixed signal, and output a first amplified signal and a second amplified signal; and a band-pass filter configured to filter the first amplified signal and the second amplified signal, and output a first filtered signal and a second amplified signal.

Embodiments can provide individualized controlling of noise injection during startup of a crystal oscillator. In some embodiments, a simple learning block can be placed in parallel to a oscillator circuit to control noise injection during the startup of the crystal oscillator. The learning block can be configured to control the noise injection during the startup of the crystal oscillator by determining whether the crystal oscillator has been stabilized. In some embodiments, an adjustment block may be employed to adjust the count determined by the learning block based on one or more measured characteristics of the crystal oscillator during a startup of the crystal oscillator. In some embodiments, a simple block that creates a negative capacitance can be configured in parallel to the crystal oscillator.

In an exemplary structure, a transformer has a primary side and a secondary side. Output from the primary side is coupled to the secondary side. A first power supply is connected to a center tap of the primary side of the transformer. An oscillator includes a first transistor and a second transistor. The front-gate of the first transistor is connected to the drain of the second transistor and the primary side of the transformer. The front-gate of the second transistor is connected to the drain of the first transistor and the primary side of the transformer. A third transistor is connected to the first transistor and a fourth transistor is connected to the second transistor. The third and fourth transistors inject a desired frequency to the oscillator. A voltage source is connected to the back-gate of the first transistor and the back-gate of the second transistor.

A divider-less phase locked loop (PLL) includes a phase frequency detector (PFD), a charge pump (CP), a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), a delay unit, and a clock gating unit. The PFD is electrically connected to the VCO through the CP, and the CP outputs a voltage control signal to the VCO. The VCO generates an output signal. The delay unit receives and delays a reference signal to generate a delay signal. The clock gating unit samples the output signal according to the delay signal. Since the clock gating unit samples the output signal according to the delay signal, the divider-less PLL does not need to include a divider to divide a frequency of the output signal. Therefore, power consumption of the divider-less PLL can be reduced.

Embodiments of a reference path circuit and communication device are generally described herein. The reference path circuit may include an injection locked multiplier (ILM) and a group of one or more buffer amplifiers. The ILM may receive a sinusoidal reference signal from a reference oscillator at a reference frequency. The ILM may generate a sinusoidal ILM output signal at an ILM output frequency that is based on an integer multiple of the reference frequency. The integer multiple of the reference frequency may be within a locking range of the ILM that may be based on a resonant frequency of the ILM. The group of one or more buffer amplifiers may generate an output clock signal for input to the frequency synthesizer. The output clock signal may be based on a sign function of the ILM output signal.

A transformer feed-back quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) includes a first VCO; a second VCO; and a dynamic phase error correction circuit, having a plurality of coupling capacitors connected between the first and second VCOs, wherein the capacitances of the coupling capacitors are varied according to a digital control signal to correct a phase error of local oscillating (LO) signals of quadrature phases output by the first and second VCOs.

A local oscillator generator (LO generator) may be configured to transmit an LO signal to a mixer. The LO generator may include an input buffer configured to generate a first internal oscillator signal based on the input oscillator signal. The LO generator may include a frequency dividing circuit configured to generate a second internal oscillator signal based on dividing a frequency of the first internal oscillator signal. The LO generator may include an output buffer configured to generate the LO signal based on the second internal oscillator signal. The input buffer and the frequency dividing circuit may each be configured to receive a power voltage independently of the output buffer.

Systems and methods which provide oscillator configurations implementing phase rotation (rotated-phase-tuning (RPT)) are described. Embodiments of a RPT oscillator may employ phase interpolation, whereby two current vectors having different phases are superimposed to provide a resultant current vector having a tunable phase to vary a phase shift in a feedback loop of an oscillator circuit and correspondingly tune the oscillation frequency. Phase rotation provided by an RPT oscillator configuration of embodiments inserts a negative phase shift (rotation phase shift) into each of two current branches to rotate the phase shifts of a phase-tuning technique, such as for avoiding phase ambiguity with respect to tunable oscillation frequencies. RPT oscillators of embodiments are varactor-less and are particularly well suited for operation to provide output frequencies in the millimeter-wave (mmW) band.