CMOS Integrated Multiple-Stage Frequency Divider with Ring Oscillator for Low Power PLL

This paper proposes a low power frequency divider for an integrated CMOS phase-locked loop (PLL). An injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) was designed, along with a current-mode logic (CML) frequency divider in order to obtain a broadband and high-frequency operation. A ring oscillator was designed to operate at 1.2 GHz, and the ILFD was used to divide the frequency of its input signal by two. The structure of the ILFD is similar to that of the ring oscillator in order to ensure the frequency alignment between the oscillator and the ILFD. The CML frequency divider was used as the second stage of the divider. The proposed frequency divider was applied in a conventional PLL design, using a 0.18 ${\mu}m$ CMOS process. Simulation shows that the proposed divide-by-two ILFD and the divide-by-eight CML frequency dividers operated as expected for an input frequency of 1.2 GHz, with a power consumption of 30 mW.