Low-Power Phase Frequency Detector Using Hybrid AVLS and LECTOR Techniques for Low-Power PLL

Abstract

. Wireless communication is a fast-growing industry and recent developments focus on improving certain aspects of the area and reducing the power consumption while maintaining the frequency of operation. Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is an integral part of communication circuits which operate at very high frequencies. Phase Frequency Detector (PFD) is the first block of PLL and is key in determining the computational capacity of the PLL. The power consumption of the PFD has to be reduced to minimize the overall power consumption of PLL. The PFD architecture used is based on Double Edged Triggered D Flip-Flop (DET-DFF), which is free of dead zone. Stack, LECTOR, AVLS and hybrid low-power approaches are implemented to reduce the power consumption of DET-DFF based PFD architectures. The PFDs power, delay and power delay product analysis is performed using Cadence Virtuoso and Spectre in CMOS 180 nm and 90 nm technology. A power reduction of upto 32 % has been observed while keeping the transistor count to a minimum.