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Designing Schmitt trigger oscillator using CMOS NAND gate.

Alex_Bam

Sep 28, 2020
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Sep 28, 2020
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Hello,
I am designing a Schmitt trigger oscillator based on a CMOS NAND gate. The block diagram along with schematics and its results are attached for your reference. I am using the CADENCE tool with 0.35um technology.

Question: it can be seen in the result, the charging time of the capacitor is large which affects the oscillating signal at the beginning. To reduce charging time I need to reduce the RC time constant but it affects my oscillating frequency. Once i reduce the RC time constant then i am limited to a certain oscillating frequency.

Oscillating frequency: f=1/2.2RC

How can I reduce the charging time of the cap (other than the RC time constant in my schematics) so that I get the least distortion at the initial stage of the oscillating signal?
 

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Harald Kapp

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Nov 17, 2011
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You will probably not get it to start in an ideal condition. This kind of oscillator isn't very precise anyway as the frequency depends on the accuracy not only of R and C but also badly defined tolerances of the Schmitt-Trigger gate.
Try biasing the capacitor to 1/2 Vcc by a resistive divider with very high impedance (e.g. 2 × 1 MΩ). The impedance of the divider (here 500 MΩ, 1/2 of the single resistors) needs to be much higher than the resistance of the feedback resistor to minimize influence during oscillation. Set the impedance of the divider to > 100 × Rfeedback (no clear equation, just a rule of thumb).
 
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