Technology

Overview

RotaryWave™ Technology
Multigig has developed a fundamentally new approach to clocks and timing in electronics that leads to greatly improved product architectures. The RotaryWave clock has nearly ideal characteristics

The Rotary Travelling Wave Oscillator or RotaryWave is a differential transmission line that based on its length and tap points provides a very stable, low jitter and low phase noise output clock frequency.

• Transmission line has amplifiers placed along its length making it a "distributed regeneration device
• Transmission line forms a loop with the ends connected together with a one-half twist like a möbius strip
• Amplifiers force a rail-to-rail signal on the transmission line. The half-twist forces the signal to toggle once every cycle, so the system oscillates with a frequency derived mainly from the inductance and capacitance of the transmission line.
• Switched capacitors or varactors between the transmission line rails turn the RTWO into a VCO
• Outputs may be tapped from any point on the transmission line
• Phases are well established by the relative position along the loop, so multiple-phase outputs are straightforward to produce

Importance of Clocking in Electronics
In high performance digital applications such as microprocessors, graphics chips, and digital signal processing the clock signal can consume well over 50% of the total power dissipation of the chip. Indeed, the clock power is often the limiting element in the performance of the design.

In non-digital applications, the purity or precision of the clock can be the determining factor in overall system performance. A quick review of the large number of papers dealing with improvements to RF VCOs shows the importance that clocks play in wireless and wireline communications. In the mixed-signal world of Analog to Digital Converters (ADCs), the accuracy of the sampling moment (aperture jitter) directly limits the capability of this increasingly important electronic component.

RotaryWave™ Technology
Multigig has developed a fundamentally new approach to clocks and timing in electronics that leads to greatly improved product architectures. The RotaryWave™ clock has nearly ideal characteristics including:

High Precision - Low Noise
In high speed communications (whether wireless, copper or fiber optic based) the phase noise or jitter of the clock source determines to a great extent the quality and bandwidth of the communications channel. Multigig's RotaryWave clocks push past all alternate integrated circuit techniques to set new standards for phase noise and jitter.

Extreme Resolution
Using RotaryWave technology it is possible to generate hundreds and even thousands of precise phases of each clock period. This allows Multigig to design electronic circuits that can robustly operate with precise timing intervals as small as a picosecond.

Low Power
RotaryWave clock technology avoids dynamic power dissipation through recycling of charge. Thus, very large capacitive loads can be directly driven by the clock without the usual CV2F power dissipation common to all other accepted methods.

Natural Distribution Methods
RotaryWave clocks self-synchronize with adjacent RotaryWave clocks with extreme precision through the use of injection locking. Thus, a large grid of RotaryWave Clocks can be completely synchronized without utilizing any dedicated distribution mechanism. The RotaryClock thus becomes both the clock source and the distribution method.

Robust for Manufacturing
RotaryWave technology is a fundamental technique that works on all existing manufacturing processes including CMOS and other FET technologies, bipolar including SiGe, Silicon on Insulator and III-V technologies. Zero manufacturing changes are required to implement RotaryWave clocks into a design. Multigig has measured results on a large variety of CMOS and SiGe BiCMOS processes. Unlike most analog techniques, RotaryWave clocks scale well with advanced processes. Furthermore, this technology has excellent signal integrity with very robust tolerance to substrate, power supply and radiated noise.