A new method to enhance frequency operation of CMOS ring oscillators

This article proposes a frequency-boosting method for CMOS ring oscillators. It consists of adding RC-based differentiators in delay cells to speed up their transient responses. Two novel delay cells for simple and differential versions are presented. On using MOS transistor components to implement the differentiators, the resulting increase of surface area is observed to be moderate, and this allows frequency tuning by voltage control, without inducing additional phase noise. The presented circuits are suitable for low-voltage operation. Simulation results on the proposed circuits have shown significant frequency enhancement with a competitive factor of merit.