US Patent 8218705 Linear phase interpolator and phase detector

A novel interpolating phase detector for use in a multiphase PLL is described comprising an array of individual phase comparators, all operating at essentially the same operating point which permits the circuits to be designed simultaneously for high speed and for low power consumption. Two adjacent phase outputs of a multi-phase VCO may be selected and interpolated in between, by selectively attaching a variable number of phase comparators to each phase output and summing their phase error outputs. By varying the number of phase comparators attached to each phase output, interpolation can be achieved with high linearity.