Freescale Semiconductor

About: Freescale Semiconductor is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Layer (electronics) & Signal. The organization has 7673 authors who have published 10781 publications receiving 149123 citations. The organization is also known as: Freescale Semiconductor, Inc..

Lock recovery circuit for a phase locked loop

Abstract: A circuit (10) for providing recovery of a phase locked loop circuit when lock has been lost has been provided. The circuit includes a lock indicator circuit (24) for detecting when the phase locked loop circuit has lost lock on an input reference signal. When such loss has occurred, an override circuit (28) is rendered operative to decrease the voltage appearing at the input of a VCO within the phase locked loop thereby slowing down the frequency of the VCO and allowing the phase locked loop circuit to recover lock. Further, a logic circuit (30) detects when the voltage appearing at the input of the VCO has fallen below a predetermined threshold voltage and renders the override circuit non-operative.

Process for forming a contact structure

Abstract: Self-aligned and/or isolated contacts are formed in a semiconductor device, while simultaneously providing device planarization. In one form, an imagable material is deposited directly on a substrate material. The imagable material is patterned to form a sacrifical plug on a portion of the substrate material. A substantially planar insulating layer is then deposited overlying the substrate material. The plug formed of the imagable material is then removed, thereby exposing a portion of the substrate material and defining a contact opening. A conductive layer is deposited and patterned to complete formation of a contact.

Method of increasing coding efficiency and reducing power consumption by on-line scene change detection while encoding inter-frame

Abstract: A system and method for on-the-fly detection of scene changes within a video stream through statistical analysis of a portion of the macroblocks comprising each video frame as they are processed using inter-frame coding. If the statistical analysis of the selected macroblocks of the current frame differs from the previous frame by exceeding predetermined thresholds, the current video frame is assumed to be a scene change. Once a scene change is detected, the remainder of the video frame is encoded as an intra-frame, intra-macroblocks, or intra slices, through implementation of one or more predetermined or adaptively adjusted quantization parameters to reduce computational complexity, decrease power consumption, and increase the resulting video image quality. As decoding is the inverse of encoding, these improvements are similarly recognized by a decoder as it decodes a resulting encoded video stream.

Method and apparatus for switching between gain curves of a voltage controlled oscillator

Abstract: A method and apparatus for switching between gain curves of a switched gain voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 52, 52' or 52" In one form, the present invention uses a switched gain voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) 52, 52' or 52" which utilizes a ring oscillator A Gain Control signal is used to select between using a high gain curve and using a low gain curve The low gain curve is produced by selecting a high resistance path to either power or ground The high gain curve is produced by selecting a low resistance path to either power or ground

Universality of NBTI - From devices to circuits and products

Abstract: This paper showcases the universality of NBTI and its dependencies on time, bias, temperature, AC frequency and pulse duty cycle across different process integration schemes used in the industry and technology nodes. Strong correlation has been established between device, circuit, and product degradation. Different aspects of variability and variable NBTI in small area devices have been discussed. Features that are important from an industrial perspective are highlighted. Any NBTI model should address these aspects to be considered relevant.