A Low-Spur Fractional-N PLL Based on a Time-Mode Arithmetic Unit

This article introduces a low-jitter low-spur fractional-N phase-locked loop (PLL) adopting a new concept of a time-mode arithmetic unit (TAU) for phase error extraction. The TAU is a time-signal processor that calculates the weighted sum of input time offsets. It processes two inputs - the period of a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) and the instantaneous time offset between the DCO and reference clock edges - and then extracts the DCO phase error by calculating their weighted sum. The prototype, implemented in 40-nm CMOS, achieves 182-fs rms jitter with 3.5-mW power consumption. In a near-integer channel, it shows the worst fractional spur below -59 dBc. Under considerable supply or temperature variations, the worst spur still remains below -51.7 dBc without any background calibration tracking.