A wide-locking-range dual injection-locked frequency divider with an automatic frequency calibration loop in 65-nm CMOS

This brief presents a wide-locking-range injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) that uses an automatic frequency calibration loop. The proposed ILFD uses the ring oscillator to provide the high division ratio with small chip area. A dual-injection scheme is proposed in order to achieve the wide locking range of the ILFD. The free-running frequency of the ILFD is automatically digitally calibrated to reflect the frequency of the injected signal from the voltage-controlled oscillator. To control the frequency of the ILFD, the load current is digitally tuned with 3-bit control signal. The ILFD is fabricated using 65-nm CMOS process, and by tuning the load current, it achieves the wide operation frequency range of 14.1-45.8 GHz. When the input signal of 30 GHz is injected, the locking range of the ILFD is 7.2 GHz, while the power consumption is 2.5 mW from a 1-V supply voltage.