An Enhanced Architecture of CMOS Phase Frequency Detector to Increase the Detection Range

The phase frequency detector (PFD) is one of the most important building blocks of a phase locked Loop (PLL). Due to blind-zone problem, the detection range of the PFD is low. The blind zone of a PFD directly depends upon the reset time of the PFD and the pre-charge time of the internal nodes of the PFD. Taking these two parameters into consideration, a PFD is designed to achieve a small blind zone closer to the limit imposed by process-voltage-temperature variations. In this paper an enhanced architecture is proposed for dynamic logic PFD to minimize the blind-zone problem. The techniques used are inverter sizing, transistor reordering and use of pre-charge transistors. The PFD is implemented in 180 nm technology with supply voltage of 1.8 V.