The present disclosure includes a frequency divider circuit that includes a superharmonically injection-locked ring oscillator, injection circuitry, and various switches. The input can include a collection of signal components at different phases that are all at the same, but changeable, frequency. The divider's division ratio can be changed during the divider's operation by, for example, utilizing one or more switches to change: the number of stages in the ring oscillator, and/or which stage(s) of the ring oscillator are injected into by which input signal components.

Systems, devices, and methods are described herein for aligning a phase of a ring oscillator and removing jitter. An oscillator includes a resistor bank array, an operational amplifier, a first and second transistor, and a realignment circuit. The resistor bank array has a plurality of resistors configured to generate a first signal. The operational amplifier is coupled to a PLL circuit and is configured to compare a voltage of the PLL circuit with a voltage of the resistor bank array. The first transistor is coupled between the operational amplifier and a ring oscillator. The first transistor is configured to generate a second signal to control a frequency of the ring oscillator during a realignment state. The realignment circuit is coupled to the first transistor and the ring oscillator. The realignment circuit is configured to generate a realignment signal to align the ring oscillator with a first clock signal.

Methods and systems are described for generating multiple phases of a local clock at a controllable variable frequency, using loop-connected strings of active circuit elements. A specific embodiment incorporates a loop of four active circuit elements, each element providing true and complement outputs that are cross-coupled to maintain a fixed phase relationship, and feed-forward connections at each loop node to facilitate high frequency operation. A particular physical layout is described that maximizes operating frequency and minimizes clock pertubations caused by unbalanced or asymmetric signal paths and parasitic node capacitances.

A semiconductor integrated circuit includes a first oscillator configured to generate a first signal with a first frequency based on a control signal and output the first signal to a path. The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a control signal generation circuit operatively coupled to the first oscillator via the path, and configured to receive the first signal from the first oscillator via the path and generate the control signal. The semiconductor integrated circuit includes a second oscillator configured to generate a second signal with a second frequency based on the control signal and output the second signal to an output terminal outside the path.

Systems, devices, and methods are described herein for aligning a phase of a ring oscillator and removing jitter. An oscillator includes a resistor bank array, an operational amplifier, a first and second transistor, and a realignment circuit. The resistor bank array has a plurality of resistors configured to generate a first signal. The operational amplifier is coupled to a PLL circuit and is configured to compare a voltage of the PLL circuit with a voltage of the resistor bank array. The first transistor is coupled between the operational amplifier and a ring oscillator. The first transistor is configured to generate a second signal to control a frequency of the ring oscillator during a realignment state. The realignment circuit is coupled to the first transistor and the ring oscillator. The realignment circuit is configured to generate a realignment signal to align the ring oscillator with a first clock signal.

Systems, devices, and methods are described herein for aligning a phase of a ring oscillator and removing jitter. An oscillator includes a resistor bank array, an operational amplifier, a first and second transistor, and a realignment circuit. The resistor bank array has a plurality of resistors configured to generate a first signal. The operational amplifier is coupled to a PLL circuit and is configured to compare a voltage of the PLL circuit with a voltage of the resistor bank array. The first transistor is coupled between the operational amplifier and a ring oscillator. The first transistor is configured to generate a second signal to control a frequency of the ring oscillator during a realignment state. The realignment circuit is coupled to the first transistor and the ring oscillator. The realignment circuit is configured to generate a realignment signal to align the ring oscillator with a first clock signal.

Methods and systems are described for generating multiple phases of a local clock at a controllable variable frequency, using loop-connected strings of active circuit elements. A specific embodiment incorporates a loop of four active circuit elements, each element providing true and complement outputs that are cross-coupled to maintain a fixed phase relationship, and feed-forward connections at each loop node to facilitate high frequency operation. A particular physical layout is described that maximizes operating frequency and minimizes clock pertubations caused by unbalanced or asymmetric signal paths and parasitic node capacitances.

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to various methods and example systems for carrying out analog-to-digital conversion of data acquired by arrays of nanogap sensors. The nanogap sensors described herein may operate as molecular sensors to help identify chemical species through electrical measurements using at least a pair of electrodes separated by a nanogap. In general, the methods and systems proposed herein rely on digitizing the signal as the signal is being integrated, and then integrating the digitized results. With such methods, the higher sample rate used in the digitizer reduces the charge per quantization and, therefore, the size of sampling capacitors used. Consequently, sampling capacitors may be made factors of magnitude smaller, requiring less valuable space on a chip compared to sampling capacitors used in conventional nanogap sensor arrays.

A system for generating a sub-harmonically injection locked phase interpolated output signal. The system comprises ring oscillator (RO) circuitry to generate an output oscillator signal in response to a periodic input signal. The RO circuitry includes a plurality of differential delay RO stages interconnected in cascade within a closed loop, where each RO stage is configured to establish a corresponding delayed version of the output oscillator signal successively shifted in phase by a predetermined phase difference based on a predetermined interpolation mapping scheme. The system further comprises signal injection circuitry coupled to the RO circuitry to apply a first signal having a first input phase and a second signal having a second input phase to the plurality of differential delay RO stages based on the predetermined interpolation mapping scheme to lock a frequency of the output oscillator signal at one half the frequency of the periodic input signal.

A clock generation circuit has an injection-locked oscillator, a frequency doubler circuit, low pass filters and a calibration circuit. The injection-locked oscillator has an input coupled to a half-rate clock signal. The frequency doubler circuit has inputs coupled to outputs of the injection-locked oscillator. Each of the low pass filters has an input coupled to one of a plurality of outputs of the frequency doubler circuit. The calibration circuit includes comparison logic that receives outputs of the low pass filters. The calibration circuit has an output coupled to a control input of a source of a supply current in the injection-locked oscillator. In one example, the source of the supply current is a current digital to analog converter.