One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for operating a charge pump. The method includes comparing a drain voltage of a current sink transistor of the charge pump with a drain voltage of a current reference transistor, and adjusting a gate bias voltage of the current sink transistor and the current reference transistor in a direction that reduces a difference between the drain voltage of the current sink transistor and the drain voltage of the current reference transistor. The method also includes comparing a common-mode voltage of a loop filter with a reference voltage, and adjusting a gate bias voltage of a current source transistor of the charge pump in a direction that reduces a difference between the common-mode voltage of the loop filter and the reference voltage.

A circuit for clamping current in a charge pump is disclosed. The charge pump includes switching circuitry having a number of switching circuitry transistors. Each of first and second pairs of transistors in the circuit can provide an additional path for current from its associated one of the switching circuitry transistors during off-switching of that transistor so that a spike in current from the switching circuitry transistor is only partially transmitted through a path extending between the switching circuitry transistor and a capacitor of the charge pump.

A PLL circuit includes a phase comparator, a charge pump, a loop filter, a voltage-controlled oscillator, a frequency divider, a frequency difference determination unit, and an FV characteristics adjustment unit. The frequency difference determination unit determines whether or not a frequency difference between a feedback oscillation signal and an input signal is equal to or smaller than a threshold value. The FV characteristics adjustment unit selects a frequency band in the voltage-controlled oscillator and adjusts FV characteristics.

A charge pump has a first branch that includes a first node connected between a first pull-up switch and a first pull-down switch and a second branch that includes a second node connected between a second pull-up switch and a second pull-down switch. The second branch is connected in parallel with the first branch. The charge pump has a voltage equalization circuit to equalize a first voltage at the first node and a second voltage at the second node. A third branch includes a third node that is connected between a third pull-up switch and a third pull-down switch. The third node is connected to the second node. The third pull-up switch and the first pull-up switch are controlled by a common pull-up signal. The third pull-down switch and the first pull-down switch are controlled by a common pull-down signal.

In described examples, a method of operating a charge pump includes a first control signal deactivating a first transistor, and the first control signal's logical complement activating a second transistor to reset the first transistor's DC bias voltage. The first control signal's logical complement deactivates the second transistor, and the first control signal provides a bias voltage to the first transistor to activate it, causing current to be transmitted from an input voltage to an output terminal. A second control signal deactivates a third transistor, and the second control signal's logical complement activates a fourth transistor to reset the second transistor's DC bias voltage. The second control signal's logical complement deactivates the fourth transistor, and the second control signal provides a bias voltage to the third transistor to activate it, causing current to be transmitted from the output terminal to a ground.

A PLL circuit includes a fractional-N divider generating a feedback signal, a first phase-frequency detector that compares the feedback signal to a reference signal to generate first up/down control signals that control a charge pump to generate a charge pump output current. A noise cancelation circuit includes a synchronization circuit that generates first and second synchronized feedback signals from the PLL circuit output and the feedback signal, where the first and second synchronized feedback signals are offset by an integer number of cycles of the PLL circuit output. A second phase-frequency detector circuit compares the first and second synchronized feedback clock signals to generate second up/down control signals whose pulse widths differ by the integer number of PLL cycles. A current digital to analog converter circuit is controlled in response to the second up/down control signals to apply noise canceling sourcing and sinking currents to the charge pump output current.

A method of a phase-locked loop circuit includes: using a phase detector to generate a charging current signal according to an input frequency signal and a feedback signal; limiting a voltage level corresponding to the charging current signal in a voltage range according to a prediction signal to generate a digital output; performing a low-pass filter operation according to the digital output; generating a digital controlled oscillator (DCO) frequency signal according to an output of the loop filter; generating the feedback signal according to the DCO frequency signal; generating a phase signal, which indicates accumulated phase shift information, according to information of the feedback circuit and fractional frequency information; and, generating the prediction signal according to the phase signal.

A PLL circuit includes: a charge pump; a voltage-controlled oscillator including an oscillation portion; and a voltage-converting circuit configured to convert a voltage from the charge pump and apply the converted voltage to the voltage-controlled oscillator. The power supply range supplied to the voltage-converting circuit is larger than the power supply range supplied to the oscillation portion of the voltage-controlled oscillator.

In one embodiment, a spread spectrum clock generator, comprising a digital delta sigma modulator coupled to a fractional N, phase locked loop (PLL), the PLL comprising a discrete-time capacitance multiplier loop filter, the discrete-time capacitance multiplier loop filter comprising: an amplifier comprising a non-inverting input and an inverting input; a first switched capacitor resistor and a capacitor coupled to the non-inverting input, the capacitor coupled between the first switched capacitor resistor and the non-inverting input; and a second switched capacitor resistor coupled to the inverting input.

A delay locked loop circuit includes a delay line, a phase detector, a selection controller, and a charge pump. The delay line delays, based on a delay control voltage, a reference clock signal to generate an internal clock signal and a feedback clock signal. The phase detector compares phases of the internal clock signal and the feedback clock signal to generate a first detection signal and a second detection signal. The selection controller provides the reference clock signal as an up-signal and a down-signal. The charge pump generates the delay control voltage based on the up-signal and the down-signal.