Synchronization of Ring-based Resonant Standing Wave Oscillators for 3D Clocking Applications Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • 2018 IEEE. Ring-based Resonant Standing Wave Oscillators (RRSWOs) have been shown to be a powerful technique to perform low power clock generation and distribution for high-speed clocks. The resulting clock signals can achieve very high frequencies and exhibit low skew. Utilizing through-silicon-vias (TSVs), a RRSWO can form a 3D ring that distributes this high speed clock to all the die in a 3D IC stack. In this paper, in addition to presenting a RRSWO-based technique to generate and distribute a high frequency, low skew signal in a 3D IC, we also present a scheme to synchronize two such 3D ring-based resonant oscillators without the use of a Phase Locked Loop (PLL). This reduces cost, provides effective synchronization between the 3D ICs, and creates scalable systems with a low clock skew. Finally, we present the design of a robust bootstrap circuit for 3D RRSWOs. We validate out ideas using circuit simulations, including Monte Carlo simulations to quantify the resilience of our approach to variations.

name of conference

  • 2018 IEEE 36th International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD)

published proceedings

  • 2018 IEEE 36TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER DESIGN (ICCD)

author list (cited authors)

  • Douglass, A. J., & Khatri, S. P.

citation count

  • 0

complete list of authors

  • Douglass, Andrew J||Khatri, Sunil P

publication date

  • October 2018