5C-5
Gen-Adler: The Generalized Adlers Equation for Injection Locking Analysis in
Oscillators
Prateek Bhansali
ECE Department
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
e-mail: bhansali@umn.edu
Abstract Injection locking analysis based on classical Adlers
equation is limited to LC oscillators as it is dependent on quality
factor. In this paper, we present the Generalized Adlers equation
applicable for injection locking analysis on oscillators indepen-
dent of the circuit topology. The equation is obtained by averaging
the PPV phase macromodel. The procedure is considerably
simple and handy to determine the locking range for arbitrary
shape small AC injection signal. Analytical equations for injection
locking dynamics are formulated using the Generalized Adlers
equation and validated with the PPV simulations.
I. I NTRODUCTION
Injection locking is a nonlinear phenomenon observed in oscilla-
tors. A small AC injection signal of frequency within the locking
range entrains the oscillator at its frequency. The oscillator is thus
said to be locked and the phenomenon is known as injection locking.
Injection locking is exploited in the frequency synthesis and related
applications. For example, it is used in the design of high performance
quadrature oscillators [1], [2] and injection locked phase-locked loops
(PLLs) [3]. Injection locking also has wide applications in optics [4],
[5]. Thus, apart from its theoretical importance, study of injection
locking is of great practical interest.
Injection locking has been widely studied for LC-tank based os-
cillators [6] using the classical Adlers equation [7]. Adlers equation
provides quick insight into the locking dynamics. Furthermore, it
provides rapid estimation of the locking range of oscillators for a
given injection signal. The locking range is the frequency range
around the oscillators natural frequency for which injection locking
occurs. But, Adlers equation is dependent on quality factor Q,
which limits its use to LC oscillators. The Q factor by its denition
is the ratio of energy preserved to energy dissipated per cycle in
the oscillator. In LC oscillators, energy is stored in inductors and
capacitors and a part of it is dissipated across the resistance. In a
ring oscillator this denition does not hold good as there is no energy
storage. There are no inductors in a ring oscillator and capacitances
are charged and discharged within each oscillator cycle.
Recently, analytical techniques to predict injection locking range
for ring oscillators have been presented in [8] and numerical tech-
niques in [9] based on the Perturbation Projection Vector (PPV) [10].
These analytical and numerical techniques to obtain the locking range
are accurate, being derived mathematically with no assumption of the
circuit topology. But, they lack simplicity of Adlers equation which
gives quick and handy graphical insight into the injection locking
phenomenon. The alternate method is to study the injection locking
using transient simulations. The transient analysis is time consuming
as smaller time-steps are required for the accurate simulation of
oscillators. The PPV based simulations are already established to be
accurate and orders of magnitude faster over transient simulations in
predicting injection locking [9]. Furthermore, it takes simulation for
hundreds of cycles to conclusively identify the lock condition from
the quasi-lock [6].
978-1-4244-2749-9/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
Jaijeet Roychowdhury
ECE Department
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN, 55455
e-mail: jr@umn.edu
In this paper, we derive the Generalized Adlers (Gen-Adlers)
equation from the PPV nonlinear phase macromodel. We apply
an averaging technique on the PPV, to average out fast varying
behavior and retain slow varying behavior, obtaining Gen-Adlers.
Based on the analytical PPV of LC-tank oscillator [11], we illustrate
the procedure to obtain the classical Adlers equation as a special case
of Gen-Adlers equation. For an ideal ring oscillator, we formulate
Gen-Adlers equation for sinusoidal, square and exponentially rising
and falling AC injection signals based on its analytical PPV [12],
giving useful insight into the injection locking phenomenon. The an-
alytical formulation is validated against numerical computations and
the locking dynamics are validated against already established PPV
methods. It is worthwhile to emphasize that Gen-Adlers equation can
be obtained for any oscillator with arbitrary AC injection signal of
small amplitude numerically, but it is an approximation of the PPV.
This paper is organized as follows. In Section II, we briey
review Adlers equation and the PPV phase macromodel. Next,
in Section III, we derive Gen-Adlers equation from the PPV by
averaging it. In Section IV, we apply Gen-Adlers equation to analyze
injection locking phase dynamics for both the LC tank oscillator and
the ideal ring oscillator giving analytical expressions of the locking
range. In Section V, we validate the formulation of Gen-Adlers and
compare results with the PPV based simulations.
II. BACKGROUND
In this section, we briey review the classical Adlers equation
[7] and the nonlinear PPV phase macromodel [10] for oscillators.
Adlers equation is the analytical method proposed by Adler to predict
injection locking. On the other hand, the PPV is a non-linear phase
macromodel for oscillators, suitable for fast and accurate simulation
of non-linear phenomenons in oscillators. We use the PPV to derive
insightful Adler-like formulations for injection locking in oscillators.
A. Adlers Equation
In 1946, R. Adler obtained a differential equation known as Adlers
equation for the oscillators phase difference with the injection signal.
This celebrated equation describes injection locking dynamics in
LC oscillators. When a free running oscillator is perturbed by an
AC injection signal, the lock dynamics are given by the following
equation
d (t) Vi f0
= f0 sin( (t)) (1)
dt V 2Q
where, (t) is the phase difference. The amplitude of the injected
signal is Vi and the output amplitude of oscillator is V while the
oscillator runs at a free running frequency of f0 . The frequency
difference between the injected signal and the oscillator is f0 . Adler
obtained injection locking behavior and the locking range for LC
oscillators based on (1). When the oscillator is locked, the phase
difference becomes constant and (1) gives
f0 1 Vi
= sin( (t)) (2)
f0 2Q V
522
 5C-5

and since sin() lies between +1 and 1, we have Next, differentiating (10) and substituting the value of (t) from
1 Vi f 1 Vi (9), we get
0 (3)
2Q V f0 2Q V 1 d (t) f1 f0
 ( f0 (t + (t))) b( f1t) = + (11)
This immediately gives the locking range fL as f0 dt f0
fL = 2| f0 |max Substituting the value of (t) from (10) in (11), we obtain a
f0 Vi (4) modied phase equation suitable for further analysis
fL =
QV d (t)
= ( f1 f0 ) + f0 (( (t) + 1 (t))) b(1 (t)) (12)
Next, we review the PPV phase macromodel for oscillators which we dt
will use to derive Adler-like equation. We start with the mathematical In the modied phase equation (12), (t) is phase difference
equation describing oscillator and list the phase deviation equation between the oscillator and the perturbation signal. For the injection
(7) under the effect of a perturbation signal [10]. locking analysis, perturbation signal is an AC injection signal with
frequency close to the oscillators natural frequency.
B. The PPV phase macromodel
Let the oscillator has a state space x(t). The differential equation
system describing it, under the effect of perturbation signal b(t), can
be written as B. Gen-Adlers Equation

dq(x(t))  We now assume that in (12), 1 (t) is fast varying and (t)
+ f (x) = b(t) (5) slowly varying variable. This assumption is explained below in
dt
detail. Under this assumption, we can average out the fast 1 (t) and
where, q() and f () are nonlinear functions. If the perturbation signal
retain the slow (t) variations in (12) to obtain g( (t)) as
is small then the amplitude variations can be neglected, and the  T1
solution x p (t) of (5) will be 1
g( (t)) = ( (t) + 1 (t)) b(1 (t)) d 1 (t) (13)
T1 0
x p (t) =xs (t + (t)) (6)
where, T1 = 1 ( f11 ). Hence,
where, xs (t) is the steady state T-periodic solution without any
perturbation signal. The phase deviation or the time-shift in steady  1
state solution , (t), is given by a scalar equation [10] 1
g( (t)) = ( (t) + 1 (t)) b(1 (t)) d 1 (t) (14)
1 0
d (t)
=vT1 (t + (t)) b(t) (7) Therefore, after averaging out the fast variations, (12) can be
dt written as
where, vT1 is T-periodic and is called the PPV of the oscillator. The d (t)
PPV has the same size as x(t). The elements of the PPV gives = ( f1 f0 ) + f0 g( (t)) (15)
dt
the phase sensitivity of the corresponding components of x(t) to an
externally applied perturbation signal. The PPV can be calculated for This is the Generalized Adlers equation valid for any oscillator
oscillators numerically in the time and the frequency domain [13]. as compared to the original Adlers equation (1), which is only
Interestingly, the analytical PPV for the LC-tank oscillator and the applicable to LC-tank like oscillators. This is of same form as original
ideal ring oscillator exist in the literature [11], [12]. Adlers equation for sinusoidal g( (t)).
Under lock conditions, the phase difference between oscillator and
III. G ENERALIZED A DLER S E QUATION injected signal becomes constant, that is d (t)/dt = 0 or (t) =
In this section, we use the PPV phase macromodel reviewed in 0 and hence
the last section to obtain Generalized Adlers equation. We rst f1 f0 = f0 g(0 )
change the variables in (7) from phase deviation (t) to phase (16)
f0 = f0 g(0 )
difference (t) to obtain a modied phase equation. We then
perform averaging in the phase equation retaining the slow behavior Let fL be the locking range of the oscillator. The maximum value of
to derive Gen-Adlers. g() gives the locking range of the oscillator about f0 as

A. Modied Phase Equation | f0 |max = f0 [g( (t))]max

(17)
In this section, we derive the modied phase equation. Let vT1 (t) fL = 2| f0 |max
be a PPV, periodic with frequency f0 . We can write The locking range, fL , is typically much smaller than f1 or f0 . If
vT1 (t) =  ( f0t) (8) the oscillator is not locked (t) = 0, and the maximum value of
RHS in (15) is ( f1 f0 ) + fL /2  f1 . Thus, we have
where,  () is 1-periodic function i.e. ( f0t) = ( f0t + 1).  
d (t)
Assuming the perturbation signal is periodic with frequency f1 , = ( f1 f0 ) + fL /2
the PPV equation (7) is of the following form dt max (18)
d (t) d 1 (t)
=  ( f0 (t + (t))) b( f1t) (9) = f1
dt dt
As f1 is close to free running frequency f0 of the oscillator and fL
where, b() is 1-periodic function now. We can dene phase difference
is small,
between the perturbation signal and the oscillator as (t) = (t)  
1 (t), for (t) = f0 (t + (t)) and 1 (t) = f1 t, to obtain d (t) d (t)
 1 (19)
dt dt
(t) = f0 (t + (t)) f1t max

(t) f1 f0 (10) Hence, our assumption that 1 (t) is fast varying and (t) is slowly
(t) = + t varying is justied.
f0 f0

523
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 5C-5

IV. I NJECTION LOCKING R ANGE USING G EN -A DLER S assumed to be equal and inverters have ideal characteristics of the
E QUATION following form 
In this section, we apply the proposed equation in Section III on A if V < 0
f (V ) = (24)
two oscillators, the LC oscillator and the ring oscillator. We obtain the A if V 0
analytical formulation of Gen-Adlers for both oscillators. To show
the general applicability, we analyze the ring oscillator for various
types of injection signals.

A. LC Oscillator R V1 R V2 R V3
Consider a simple Gm LC tank oscillator as shown in Fig. 1. f(V3) f(V1) f(V2)
b(t)
The state variables of this oscillator are voltage across the capacitor C C C

v(t) and current through the inductor i(t). The analytical PPV of the
LC oscillator [11], when perturbed by a sinusoidal injection signal
b(t) = Ii cos(2 f1t) as shown in Fig. 1, is given as
 Fig. 2. Ring oscillator circuit with injection signal b(t).
L1
vT1 (t) = sin(2 f0t) (20)
In [12], an analytical PPV for the node V 3 of ideal ring oscillator
CA
was derived as
for a steady state solution of v(t) = A cos(2 f0t).
1 R e
t
if 0 t < T2
T 5A  t
v1 (t) = R 2 (25)
i(t) v(t) A 1 e if T2 t < T
5

f(v) where, is the RC time constant and T = 2.88727 = 1/ f0 is time

L C R
b(t) period of the ring oscillator. To obtain the 1-periodic form of the
PPV at node V3 we put t = f0 t, which gives us
t
1 R e f0 if 0 t = ft0 < T2
(t) = v1 (t/ f0 ) =
T 
5 A  t
R 2 1 e f0 if T t = t < T
A 5 2 f0
(26)
1 R e2.887t if 0 t < 1
= R 5 2 
A 2
Fig. 1. LC tank oscillator circuit with injection signal b(t).
A 1 e2.887t if 12 t < 1
5
The PPV can now be written in 1-periodic form using vT1 (t) = For notational simplicity,
 ( f0 t) as 
 K1 RA eK0 ts if 0 ts < 12
t L1 (ts ) = (27)
(t) = vT1 ( ) = sin(2 t) K2 RA eK0 ts if 12 ts < 1
f0 CA
 (21)
L1 where,
( (t) + 1 (t)) = sin(2 ( (t) + 1 (t)))  
CA 1 2
K1 = , K2 = 1
K0 = 2.887, (28)
To evaluate g( (t)), we use () from (21) in (14) and evaluate the 5 5
integral Gen-Adlers equation for the ring oscillator is then obtained by
 1  evaluating g( (t) from (14) for each of the injection signals. After
L1
g( (t)) = sin(2 ( (t) + 1 (t))) b(1 (t)) d 1 (t) evaluating g( (t), we plot it for R = 2k, C = 2nF and A = 1V in
C A
 1 
0
each case. The lock range can be easily obtained from these graphs or
L1 by nding the maximum of g( (t). The injection current amplitude
= sin(2 ( + 1 )) Ii cos(1 ) d 1
0
 C A was taken to be Ii = 0.1mA and the frequency, f1 = 1.02 f0 , where f0
Ii L 1 is free running frequency of the ring oscillator.
= sin(2 )
2 CA 1) Sinusoidal Injection Current: For a sinusoidal injection current
(22) signal b(t) = Ii sin(2 f1 t) to the ring oscillator shown in Fig. 2, we
We note that have
 the amplitude of the current through the inductor is given
as IL = A CL and current through resistor as IR = QIL . Using this b(1 (t)) = Ii sin(21 (t)) if 0 1 < 1 (29)
and plugging g( ) in (15), we obtain the original Adler equation
for the LC oscillator as where 1 (t) = f1 t.
d Ii f0 Therefore, from (14), (27), and (29)
= ( f1 f0 ) sin(2 ) (23)  1
dt IR 2Q g( (t)) = ( (t) + 1 (t)) b(1 ) d 1 (30)
This is a special case of Gen-Adlers equation, with a LC oscillator 0
perturbed by a sinusoidal injection signal. As we show next, we So, g( ) for the ring oscillator with sinusoidal injection signal is
can apply Gen-Adlers equation to study injection locking in ring obtained as
oscillators directly unlike the original Adlers equation.
1 RIi
g( (t)) =  sin(2 (t) + )
B. Ring Oscillator 4 2 + K02 A
(31)

In this subsection, we derive Gen-Adlers equation for the ring
K1 (eK0 /2 + 1) K2 (eK0 + eK0 /2 )
oscillator circuit shown in Fig. 2. All resistances and capacitors are

524
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 5C-5

where, or in its 1-periodic form we have

2 
sin( ) =  Ii if 0 1 (t) <
4 2 + K02 b(1 (t)) = (36)
0 if 1 (t) < 1
and Gen-Adlers equation for the ring oscillator with sinusoidal
injection is where, 1 (t) = f1 t. Without loss of generality, we choose 0 < 0.5
and evaluate g( (t)) as
d 
= ( f1 f0 ) + f0 g( (t)) (32)
RIi K1 K0 (t) (e K0 1)
dt
A K e


0

d (t)
if 0 (t) < 12
The phase lock would occur, when is 0 i.e.

dt



( f1 f0 ) 1 RIi
K0 /2 + eK0 (t) (K e K0 K )
= sin(2 (t) + )

RIi 1
(K K )e
f0
A K0 1 2 2 1
4 2 + K02 A (33)


if 12 (t) < 12



K1 (eK0 /2 + 1) K2 (eK0 + eK0 /2 ) g( (t)) = RI 

i K2
eK0 (t) (e K0 1)

A K0
and the locking range is given at the maximum value of g( (t)).


if 12 (t) < 1
In this case, the maximum value of g( (t)) occurs when



sin(2 (t) + ) = 1, therefore



RIi 

RIi 1
(K1 K2 )eK0 /2 + eK0 (t) (K2 K1 e( 1)K0 )
f

A K0
| f0 |max =  0 K1 (eK0 /2 + 1) K2 (eK0 + eK0 /2 )

if 1 (t) < 1
4 2 + K02 A (34)


RIi (37)
= 0.6773 f0
A Similarly, g( (t)) can be evaluated for 0.5 < < 1. To evaluate
and the locking range is fL = 2| f0 |max . This can be easily seen from the locking range, we observe that g( (t)) is composed of four
the Fig. 3 graphically. piecewise exponential functions and is symmetric about zero. It is
The steady state phase difference, 0 , between the oscillator and monotonically increasing for 0 (t) < 12 and decreasing for
2 (t) < 2 . Hence, the maximum value of g( (t)) should
1 1
the injected signal is given by stable solution of (33). For f0 / f0 =
0.02, Fig. 3 shows the plot of (33). It can be clearly seen from Fig. 3 occur at (t) = 1/2 . Thus, the injection locking range for the
that oscillator will lock to the injection signal only if f0 / f0 line ring oscillator with square wave injection signal is gives as
intersects g( (t)), that is (33) has a valid solution. The line f0 / f0 RIi K1 K0 /2 
intersects g( (t)) twice in a period. The two intersection points fL = 2 f0 e (1 e K0 ) (38)
A K0
are marked as U (unstable) and S (stable). When (t) is perturbed
slightly from the unstable point, it will move away from it towards Fig. 4 shows the plot of (37) with the unstable and stable point
a stable point, depending upon the sign of d (t)/dt as shown in for one period.
Fig. 3. For given g( (t)), the locking range is the maximum range
of injection signal frequency, f1 , yielding a valid solution of (33).
0.15
g((t))
f /f
0 0
0.1
d(t)/dt>0 (f /f )
0 0 max
0.15
g((t))
0.05
(f /f ) f0/f0
g((t), f0/f0

0 0 max
U S
0.1
d(t)/dt>0
0

0.05
0 0
g((t), f /f

U S 0.05

0 d(t)/dt<0
0.1

0.05

d(t)/dt<0 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

0.1 (t)

Fig. 4. Graphical solution of injection locking range in the ring oscillators

0 0.5 1
(t)
1.5 2
with square injection signal, = 0.5.

Fig. 3. Graphical solution of injection locking range in the ring oscillators

with sinusoidal injection signal. 3) Exponentially rising-falling Wave Injection Signal: In this sec-
tion, we apply an exponentially rising and falling injection signal and
obtain Gen-Adlers equation for the ring oscillator. The exponentially
rising falling wave can be represented as
2) Square Wave Injection Signal: In Section IV-B.1, we derived 
Gen-Adlers equation for sinusoidal type of injection. In this section, Ii (1 eK0 t/T1 ) if 0 t < T1
we derive and analyze lock conditions for a square injection signal. b(t) = (39)
Ii (1 + eK0 (tT1 /2)/T1 ) if T1 t < T1
For duty cycle and a period of T1 = 1/ f1 , the characteristics of an
ideal square wave are or in its equivalent 1-periodic form as
 
Ii if 0 t < T1 Ii (1 eK0 1 (t) ) if 0 1 < 1 (t)
b(t) = (35) b(1 (t)) = (40)
0 if T1 t < T1 Ii (1 + eK0 (1 (t)1/2) ) if 1 (t) t < 1

525
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
5C-5

0.15
where, = 1.6180339889. Next, g( (t)) is evaluated to obtain Gen-
Adlers equation. For 0 (t) < 1/2 0.1
Analytically
Numerically
 
eK0/2 2eK0 (t) + 1
g( (t)) = K1 0.05
K0

g((t))
   (41) 0
K0 (t) 1 k0/2
K1 e (t) (t)e
2 0.05

and a simplied expression for 1/2 (t) < 1 is as follows 0.1

RIi 
g( (t)) = (0.5283 0.4222 (t))eK0 (t) 1.622 (42)
A 0 0.5 1
(t)
1.5 2

Gen-Adlers equation for an ideal ring oscillator with an exponen- (a) Sinusoidal injection signal
tial injection signal is given by (15), with g( (t)) as obtained in 0.08
(41) and (42). Analytically
Numerically
To obtain the locking range of the ring oscillator in this case, we 0.06

calculate the maximum value of g( (t)) by differentiating it. The 0.04

maximum value occurs at (t) = 0.9050 and the locking range is
0.02
given as

g((t)
0
RIi
fL = 0.744 f0 (43)
A 0.02

The plot of g( (t)) and f0 / f0 is shown in Fig. 5, which also gives 0.04
insight into the locking.
0.06
Thus, we have derived Gen-Adlers equation for the ring oscillator
with different injection signals. The locking range was calculated by 0.08
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
nding the maximum of g( (t)) and also graphically by plotting (t)
the Gen-Adlers equation. The locking range is directly proportional (b) Square wave injection signal, = 0.3
to the resistance R, the injection current amplitude Ii and inversely 0.08
proportional to the amplitude of ring oscillators output voltage A. Analytically
0.06 Numerically

0.04
0.08
g((t))
d(t)/dt>0 f /f 0.02
0.06 0 0
g((t))

(f0/f0)max
0
0.04

U S 0.02
0 0

0.02
g((t), f /f

0.04
0
0.06
0.02
0.08
0.04 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
(t)
0.06 d(t)/dt<0
(c) Exponential injection signal
0.08
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
(t)
2.5 3 3.5 4
Fig. 6. Numerical computation of g( ) for the ring oscillator

Fig. 5. Graphical solution of injection locking range in the ring oscillator

with exponential injection signal.
V. VALIDATION
In this section, we rst validate the formulation of Gen-Adlers
equation by numerically computing g( (t)) and comparing with
analytical equations obtained in Section IV-B. Next, we plot the
injection locking dynamics obtained using Gen-Adlers together with
the PPV based simulations.
B. Comparison with PPV based simulation
In this section, we plot injection locking dynamics of the ring
oscillator using Gen-Adlers equation. The results obtained are com-
pared with the PPV simulations for same circuit parameters. The
phase difference obtained using Gen-Adlers is termed as GenAdler
in the locking dynamics plots Fig. 7, Fig. 8 and Fig. 9. The phase
deviation, (t), is obtained using (7). The phase difference PPV (t)
is then calculated using (10) as
PPV (t) = f0 t f1t + f0 (t) (44)

A. Numerical computation of g( )
The function g( ) was computed numerically in Matlab using the
trapezoidal quadrature rule for function denitions of the PPV of the
ring oscillator and different injection signals. The plots comparing
analytical results with numerical computations are shown in Fig. 6.
The excellent match validates the analytical formulation of Gen-
Adlers.
For a square wave injection signal with duty cycle = 0.3 and
frequency f1 = 1.02 f0 , the locking dynamics are shown in Fig. 8
for t = 80/ f0 . We start with two different values of the initial phase
difference, (0) = 1 and (0) = 1.8. As it can be clearly seen
from Fig. 8 that the simulations based on Gen-Adlers matches with
the PPV simulations for same initial conditions. For example, starting
with (0) = 1, the phase difference converges to (t) = 1.37 in
similar fashion for both, the PPV and the Gen-Adlers. The phase

526
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 5C-5

difference 0 when oscillator is locked to the injection signal can
also be seen from Fig. 4. For example, starting at the initial phase
difference (0) = 1, Fig. 4 predicts the phase difference between
the ring oscillator and the injection signal to be = 1.3735, when
in lock.
Similarly, we get close match between the transient behavior
obtained using Gen-Adlers equation and the PPV based simulation
for sinusoidal and exponential injection signals, as shown in Fig. 7
and Fig. 9. However, it must be noted that PPV is able to capture the
strong nonlinearities in the locking dynamics waveform and is more
accurate than Gen-Adlers equation. On the other hand, Gen-Adlers
is useful to evaluate the locking range of oscillators and get quick
insight into it.
1.6
(t)PPV
(t)
GenAdler
1.5
1.4
(t)
VI. C ONCLUSIONS
In this paper, we have presented a generalized equation for in-
jection locking analysis, Gen-Adlers. The equation provides insight
into injection locking range and analytical formulations helps in quick
injection locking analysis. The equation is derived as an approxima-
tion of the accurate PPV phase macromodel. We have formulated
analytical lock dynamics equations and locking range formulae for
the ring oscillator with sinusoidal, square and exponential injection
signals.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank the National Science Foundation, the Semiconductor
Research Corporation and the Gigascale Systems Research Center
which supported this work.
R EFERENCES
[1] P. Kinget, R. Melville, D. Long, and V. Gopinathan. An injection-locking
scheme for precision quadrature generation. IEEE Journal of Solid-State
Circuits, 37(7):845851, July 2002.

1.3 [2] C.J.M. Verhoeven. A high-frequency electronically tunable quadrature

oscillator. IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 27(7):10971100, July
1.2 1992.
[3] S. Kudszus, M. Neumann, T. Berceli, and W.H. Haydl. Fully integrated
1.1
94-ghz subharmonic injection-locked pll circuit. IEEE Transactions on
Microwave and Guided Wave Letters, 10(2):7072, February 2000.
[4] A. E. Seigman. Lasers. University Science Books, 1986.
1 [5] J. Dorring, Li Yan, D.A. Satorius, and Y.J. Chen. Injection locking of
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
t/T an additive-pulse mode-locked ber laser. IEEE Photonics Technology
Letters, 14(11):14971499, November 2002.
Fig. 7. Transient behavior in the ring oscillator injection locking with the [6] B. Razavi. A study of injection pulling and locking in oscillators. IEEE
sinusoidal injection signal. Journal of Solid-State Circuits, 39(9), September 2004.
[7] R. Adler. A study of locking phenomena in oscillators. Proceedings of
the I.R.E. and Waves and Electrons, 34:351357, June 1946.
1.8
[8] X. Lai and J. Roychowdhury. Analytical equation for predicting injection
(t)PPV locking in lc and ring oscillators. Proc. IEEE CICC, September 2005.
1.7 (t)
GenAdler
[9] X. Lai and J. Roychowdhury. Capturing injection locking via nonlinear
phase domain macromodels. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory
1.6 and Techniques, 52(9):22512261, September 2004.
[10] A. Demir, A. Mehrotra, and J. Roychowdhury. Phase noise in oscillators:
1.5 a unifying theory and numerical methods for characterization. IEEE
Trans. on Circuits and Systems-I:Fundamental Theory and Applications,
(t)

1.4
47(5):655674, May 2000.
1.3 [11] P. Ghanta, Z. Li, and J. Roychowdhury. Analytical Expressions for Phase
Noise Eigenfunctions of LC Oscillators. In Proc. IEEE ASP-DAC, pages
1.2 175180, January 2004.
[12] S. Srivastava and J. Roychowdhury. Analytical equations for nonlinear
1.1 phase errors and jitter in ring oscillators. IEEE Trans. on Circuits and
Systems-I:Fundamental Theory and Applications, 54(10):23212329,
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 October 2007.
t/T [13] A. Demir and J. Roychowdhury. A Reliable and Efcient Procedure
for Oscillator PPV Computation, with Phase Noise Macromodelling
Fig. 8. Transient behavior in the ring oscillator injection locking with the Applications. IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems-I:Fundamental
square wave injection signal, = 0.3. Theory and Applications, pages 188197, February 2003.

1.5
(t)PPV
(t)GenAdler
1.4

1.3
(t)

1.2

1.1

0.9
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
t/T

Fig. 9. Transient behavior in the ring oscillator injection locking with the
exponential injection signal.

527
Authorized licensed use limited to: Univ of Calif Berkeley. Downloaded on July 13, 2009 at 20:15 from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.