A frequency stable oscillator with compensation circuit, the device includes a ring oscillator circuit having S number of stages, a current generator circuit configured to generate a first current, a replica circuit having an inverter with output connected to input, configured to generate a first voltage upon dumping a second current onto the replica circuit, a first operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) with an input as the first voltage, configured to generate a third current and a current mirror circuit configured to generate a fourth current by adding the first current and the third current in a particular ratio M:N, wherein the inverter of the replica circuit is equivalent to a single stage of the ring oscillator circuit and wherein the fourth current is the total current for the ring oscillator circuit and is as close as possible to S times the second current.

An oscillation circuit includes a delay circuit that includes a first inverter having an input terminal connected to a first node, a delay adjustment circuit including first and second current supply paths through which the first node is charged in response to an output signal of the delay circuit. During charging of the first node, a current with positive temperature characteristics is supplied to the first node through the first current supply path, and a current with negative temperature characteristics is supplied to the first node through the second current supply path.

A pulse generator comprising: a first signal generating arm comprising a first inductor and a plurality of switching elements, each arranged to draw current through the first inductor; and a controller arranged to activate the plurality of switching elements in a predetermined sequence so as to generate a predetermined pulse waveform at a pulse generator output. The switching elements of the signal generating arm and the inductor together form a pulse synthesizer that takes the signal from the controller and uses it to synthesize an output pulse. Compared with conventional transmitter architectures, the functions of the upconversion mixer, the DAC, and the power amplifier are all performed by a single simplified circuit. This is both area efficient and power efficient.

A pulse generator comprising: a first signal generating arm comprising a first inductor and a plurality of switching elements, each arranged to draw current through the first inductor; and a controller arranged to activate the plurality of switching elements in a predetermined sequence so as to generate a predetermined pulse waveform at a pulse generator output. The switching elements of the signal generating arm and the inductor together form a pulse synthesizer that takes the signal from the controller and uses it to synthesize an output pulse. Compared with conventional transmitter architectures, the functions of the upconversion mixer, the DAC, and the power amplifier are all performed by a single simplified circuit. This is both area efficient and power efficient.

A buffer stage for amplifying a clock signal generated by a current controlled oscillator that receives a first current at a first supply voltage from a first current source. The buffer stage comprises an input terminal configured to receive the clock signal; an output terminal configured to output a buffered signal; at least one buffer, coupled between the input and output terminal, configured to receive a second current at a second supply voltage and buffer the clock signal to generate the buffered signal; a clamping circuit that receives the first current and the second current, and generates a first supply voltage and a second supply voltage. The clamping circuit clamps the second supply voltage equal to the first supply voltage.

In described examples of an integrated circuit (IC), an oscillator includes Schmitt trigger delay cells connected in a ring topology. The Schmitt trigger delay cells have a high input threshold approximately equal to Vdd and a low input threshold approximately equal to Vss to increase delay through each cell. An output buffer receives a phase signal from an output terminal of one of the Schmitt trigger delay cells and converts a transition phase signal to a faster transition clock signal. The output buffer has control circuitry that generates non-overlapping control signals in response to the phase signal, to control an output stage to generate the fast transition clock signal while preventing short circuit current in the output stage.

In described examples of an integrated circuit (IC), an oscillator includes Schmitt trigger delay cells connected in a ring topology. The Schmitt trigger delay cells have a high input threshold approximately equal to Vdd and a low input threshold approximately equal to Vss to increase delay through each cell. An output buffer receives a phase signal from an output terminal of one of the Schmitt trigger delay cells and converts a transition phase signal to a faster transition clock signal. The output buffer has control circuitry that generates non-overlapping control signals in response to the phase signal, to control an output stage to generate the fast transition clock signal while preventing short circuit current in the output stage.

A stress-based aging monitor circuit includes a reference ring oscillator circuit and a stressed ring oscillator circuit that each include transistors like the transistors in a circuit to be monitored. Transistors in the stressed ring oscillator circuit receive a negative gate to source voltage bias while the reference ring oscillator is protected from stress. To measure performance degradation due to stress-based aging, the switching frequencies of the reference ring oscillator circuit and the stressed ring oscillator circuit are compared. The reference ring oscillator and the stressed ring oscillator include stress-enhanced inverter circuits configured to amplify stress-based aging effects to increase sensitivity to the performance degradation caused by stress-based aging. Increased sensitivity increases the precision (e.g., higher resolution) of a supply voltage guard band adjustment used to compensate for the performance degradation to reduce or avoid overcompensating for the effects of stress-based aging.

A stress-based aging monitor circuit includes a reference ring oscillator circuit and a stressed ring oscillator circuit that each include transistors like the transistors in a circuit to be monitored. Transistors in the stressed ring oscillator circuit receive a negative gate to source voltage bias while the reference ring oscillator is protected from stress. To measure performance degradation due to stress-based aging, the switching frequencies of the reference ring oscillator circuit and the stressed ring oscillator circuit are compared. The reference ring oscillator and the stressed ring oscillator include stress-enhanced inverter circuits configured to amplify stress-based aging effects to increase sensitivity to the performance degradation caused by stress-based aging. Increased sensitivity increases the precision (e.g., higher resolution) of a supply voltage guard band adjustment used to compensate for the performance degradation to reduce or avoid overcompensating for the effects of stress-based aging.

A semiconductor device including a first inverter circuit connected in parallel to a crystal vibrating element; a second inverter circuit connected to the first inverter circuit so as to share an input therewith, and outputting an oscillation signal; and a wave filter connected to the second inverter circuit and having a passband that is determined in advance and includes an oscillation frequency of the oscillation signal.