A Scaled Thermal-Diffusivity-Based 16 MHz Frequency Reference in 0.16 μm CMOS

This paper presents a 16 MHz frequency reference that exploits the well-defined thermal diffusivity of IC-grade silicon. After a room temperature trim, its absolute inaccuracy is pm 0.1% from -55C to 125C (24 samples), while its cycle-to-cycle jitter is less than 45 ps (rms) at a power dissipation of 2.1 mW from a 1.8 V supply. The reference occupies 0.5 mm2 in a 0.16 m standard CMOS process. Compared to a previous design in an older 0.7m CMOS process, it achieves 10x higher frequency, 7x less jitter, 3.7x less power, and 12x less chip area, while maintaining the same level of accuracy.