An all-digital phase-locked loop for high-speed clock generation

An all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) for high-speed clock generation is presented. The proposed ADPLL architecture uses both a digital control mechanism and a ring oscillator and, hence, can be implemented with standard cells. The ADPLL implemented in a 0.3-μm one-poly-four-metal CMOS process can operate from 45 to 510 MHz and achieve worst case frequency acquisition in 46 reference clock cycles. The power dissipation of the ADPLL is 100 mW (at 500 MHz) with a 3.3-V power supply. From chip measurement results, the P_k-P_k jitter of the output clock is <70 ps, and the root-mean-square jitter of the output clock is <22 ps. A systematic way to design the ADPLL with the specified standard cell library is also presented. The proposed ADPLL can easily be ported to different processes in a short time. Thus, it can reduce the design time and design complexity of the ADPLL, making it very suitable for system-on-chip applications.