粗调和细调相结合的标准CMOS低噪声环形压控振荡器

本文提出了一种基于65nm CMOS标准工艺、采用粗调和细调相结合的低噪声环形压控振荡器。论文分析了环形振荡器中的直接频率调制机理,并采用开关电容阵列来减小环形压控振荡器的增益从而抑制直接频率调制效应。开关电容采用电容密度较高的二维叠层MOM电容使该压控振荡器与标准的CMOS工艺兼容。所设计压控振荡器的频率范围为480MHz～1100MHz,调谐范围为78%,测试得到输出频率为495MHz时的相位噪声为-120dBc/Hz@1MHz。该压控振荡器在1.2V的偏压下的功耗为3.84mW,相应的优值(FOM)为-169dBc/Hz。     

A low-power voltage-controlled oscillator with current-switched technique

A low-power voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with current-switched technique is presented. The circuit is implemented in 0.18-μm CMOS technology. In the design, a large inductor is used for low-power and low-phase-noise application, whereas a switched capacitor bank and two pairs of MOS varactors are adopted for coarse tuning and fine tuning respectively. The proposed VCO is biased at the boundary of the current and voltage limited region for a good trade-off between power consumption and phase noise. The phase noise of the proposed VCO is reduced in each sub-band by a current-switched technique, and a phase noise improvement of as much as 2.75 dB has been achieved. The proposed VCO has a measured tuning range of 15.2 % from 4.34 to 5.05 GHz and dissipates an average power of 3.78 mW at 1.2 V supply voltage, whereas its measured phase noise and figure of merit FOM_T are ?113.0 dBc/Hz and ?183.7 at 1 MHz offset from the frequency of 4.36 GHz respectively.     

一种跨导线性化低相噪压控振荡器

介绍了一种跨导线性化的宽带压控振荡器,由谐振腔电路、偏置电路、可编程电容阵列组成。提出一种通过电容隔直将有源器件进行交叉耦合的谐振腔结构,实现了有源器件的跨导线性化,大幅减小了有源器件自身的固有噪声,改善了压控振荡器的相位噪声特性。通过可编程电容阵列电路,可在压控振荡器内进行频率调节,扩展了振荡频率范围。测试结果表明,压控振荡器的振荡频率覆盖5 400~7 300 MHz,频率覆盖比达26%,在7 300 MHz时,相位噪声达到-128 dBc/Hz@1 MHz。该压控振荡器可作为高性能频率合成器的核心器件,构成本振信号源,可被广泛应用于无线基站、频谱监测等多种领域。     

Analysis and Implementation of a 0.9-V Voltage-Controlled Oscillator With Low Phase Noise and Low Power Dissipation

A voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with low phase noise and low power dissipation for IEEE 802.11b is proposed. A negative resistance multiple-gated circuit with a bypass capacitor is adopted to improve phase noise. The chip is implemented in 0.18-$mu{hbox {m}}$ CMOS process under a supply voltage of 0.9 V and power consumption of 2.7 mW. Its measured results show that the VCO has a phase noise of $-$122.3 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset frequency from the carrier frequency, and the tuning frequency from 2.17 to 2.73 GHz can be obtained under the tuning voltage of $-$0.9 to 0.9 V. The theoretical analysis and design consideration are also conducted in detail to show the benefits of the proposed VCO.      

A low-power 128-MHz VCO for monolithic PLL ICs

The phase-locked loop (PLL) is implemented by 2-μm bipolar-CMOS (BiCMOS) technology. The power dissipation of the PLL and the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) are 100 mW at 64 MHz and 25 mW for 1-128 MHz clock frequencies, respectively. The linearity of the VCO is ±0.5% and the temperature stability is ±50 p.p.m./°C. The center frequency of the VCO is accurately set by using one fixed external resistor. The VCO has an advantage of noise insensitivity. To achieve these features, the VCO design uses an emitter-coupled multivibrator with a built-in timing capacitor and a controlled oscillation loop gain. The PLL can be applied not only to timing recovery for data transmission, but also to frequency synthesis and self-clocking for data recording     

一种L、S波段微机械压控振荡器

报道了一种中心频率为2GHz的电感电容(LC)压控振荡器,其谐振回路由微机械可变电容和键合线电感构成。微机械可变电容采用与集成电路兼容的表面微机械工艺制造,在2GHz时其Q值约为32.6,当调节电压从0V增大到12V时,电容量变化范围为25%。通过键合技术将微机械可变电容与有源电路集成在一起,制备了MEMSVCO器件,测试结果表明,载波频率为2.004GHz时,VCO的单边带相位噪声为-103.5dBc/Hz@100kHz,输出功率为12.51dBm。调频范围约为4.8%。     

Fully Differential 5‐GHz LC‐Tank VCOs with Improved Phase Noise and Wide Tuning Range

In this paper, we propose two LC voltage‐controlled oscillators (VCOs) that improve both phase noise and tuning range. With both 1/f induced low‐frequency noise and low‐frequency thermal noise around DC or around harmonics suppressed significantly by the employment of a current‐current negative feedback (CCNF) loop, the phase noise in the CCNF LC VCO has been improved by about 10 dB at 6 MHz offset compared to the conventional LC VCO. The phase noise of the CCNF VCO was measured as ?112 dBc/Hz at 6 MHz offset from 5.5 GHz carrier frequency. Also, we present a bandwidth‐enhanced LC VCO whose tuning range has been increased about 250 % by connecting the varactor to the bases of the cross‐coupled pair. The phase noise of the bandwidth‐enhanced LC‐tank VCO has been improved by about 6 dB at 6 MHz offset compared to the conventional LC VCO. The phase noise reduction has been achieved because the DC‐decoupling capacitor Cc prevents the output common‐mode level from modulating the varactor bias point, and the signal power increases in the LC‐tank resonator. The bandwidth‐enhanced LC VCO represents a 12 % bandwidth and phase noise of ?108 dBc/Hz at 6 MHz offset.     

一种基于MEMS的射频低相位噪声压控振荡器的研制

利用微机械可变电容作为频率调节元件,制备了一种中心频率为2GHz的 LC VCO.微机械可变电容的控制极板与电容极板分离,并采用表面微机械工艺制造,在2GHz时的Q值最高约为38.462.MEMS VCO的测试结果表明,偏离2.007GHz的载波频率100kHz处的单边带相位噪声为-107.5dBc/Hz,输出功率为-13.67dBm.对微机械可变电容引起的机械热噪声以及减小空气压膜阻尼来降低相位噪声的方法进行了讨论,提出了一种优化阻尼孔数目的方法.     

射频卫星电视天线电路中LC压控振荡器设计

本文设计了一款应用于卫星电视天线电路中低功耗、低相噪的宽带单片集成压控振荡器。该振荡器利用PMOS尾电流源和MIM电容阵列结构。在保证调谐范围的前提下,有效的降低了相位噪声。使得该压控振荡器实现了3.384GHz~4.022GHz频段的覆盖,在中心频率为3.7GHz时,100Hz和1MHz频偏处的相位噪声分别为-90.4dBc/Hz和-119.1dBc/Hz,工作电压下为1.8V,功耗仅为2.5mW。     

Design formula for band-switching capacitor array in wide tuning range low-phase-noise LC-VCO

A low phase noise with wide tuning range complementary LC cross-coupled voltage control oscillator (LC-VCO) using 0.18 μm CMOS technology is presented. This paper proposes a design formula for the choice of the value of varactor (ΔC_var) and band switch capacitor (C_s) for the binary-weighted band-switching LC tank which is convenient to determine the proper tuning constant for wideband, low-phase-noise operations. This general formula considers the ratio of frequency overlap (ov) and all the parasitic effects from band-switching capacitor array and transistors. The designed VCO using a 4-bit band-switching capacitor array demonstrates the operating frequencies from 4.166 to 5.537 GHz with an equivalent tuning bandwidth of 28.26%. The measured tuning range of all sub-bands is well agreed with that of the post-layout simulation results. The measured phase noise is −123.1 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset in the 5.2 GHz band. The calculated figure-of-merit (FoM) of this VCO was as high as −187 dB. When considering the tuning bandwidth the designed VCO obtains a FoM-bandwidth product of 52.83, which is much better than previously published works.     

A Wide-Band CMOS LC VCO With Linearized Coarse Tuning Characteristics

A pseudo-exponential capacitor bank structure is proposed to implement a wide-band CMOS LC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with linearized coarse tuning characteristics. An octave bandwidth VCO employing the proposed 6-bit pseudo-exponential capacitor bank structure has been realized in 0.18-mum CMOS. Compared to a conventional VCO employing a binary weighted capacitor bank, the proposed VCO has considerably reduced the variations of the VCO gain (K _VCO) and the frequency step per a capacitor bank code (f _step/code) by 2.7 and 2.1 times, respectively, across the tuning range of 924-1850 MHz. Measurement results have also shown that the VCO provides the phase noise of - 127.1 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset for 1.752-GHz output frequency while dissipating 6 mA from a 1.8-V supply.     

一种UHF频段小数分频频率综合器设计与实现

基于130 nm CMOS工艺设计了一款特高频(UHF)频段的锁相环型小数分频频率综合器.电感电容式压控振荡器(LC VCO)片外调谐电感总值为2 nH时,其输出频率范围为1.06～1.24 GHz,调节调谐电感拓宽了频率输出范围,并利用开关电容阵列减小了压控振荡器的增益.使用电荷泵补偿电流优化了频率综合器的线性度与带内相位噪声.此外对电荷泵进行适当改进,确保了环路的稳定.测试结果表明,通过调节电荷泵补偿电流,频率综合器的带内相位噪声可优化3 dB以上,中心频率为1.12 GHz时,在1 kHz频偏处的带内相位噪声和1 MHz频偏处的带外相位噪声分别为-92.3和-120.9 dBc/Hz.最小频率分辨率为3 Hz,功耗为19.2 mW.     

A 2.4 GHz 6.6 mA fully differential CMOS PLL frequency synthesiser

A 2.4 GHz 6.6 mA fully differential CMOS phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesiser with an on-chip capacitance-calibrated loop filter is presented. The frequency synthesiser includes a differential-tuning voltage-control oscillator (VCO) and a fully differential charge-pump (CP) to reject the common-mode noise. A combination of analogue tuning and digital tuning techniques (4-bit binary weighted capacitor array) is utilised to extend the tuning range of the VCO. A novel topology and an optimisation strategy are utilised to reduce the power consumption of the frequency divider. The capacitance in the loop filter is on-chip calibrated so that the loop dynamic characteristics are accurately controlled despite the process variation. The frequency synthesiser has been implemented in UMC 0.18 μm CMOS. The measured results show that the VCO achieves a 29% tuning range, from 2.056 to 2.758 GHz. The phase noise of the frequency synthesiser is ? 117.2 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz frequency offset from the 2.3 GHz carrier. The settling time is less than 50 μs, and the capacitance in the loop filter could be on-chip calibrated to ±3.9% precision. The whole frequency synthesiser only consumes 6.6 mA current from a 1.8 V power supply.     

Sub-1 V GPS band CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator with 29% tuning range

A sub-1 V 1.6 GHz voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) was designed and fabricated using 0.35 μm CMOS technology. This LC-based VCO can operate at a supply voltage as low as 0.8 V. A top-biased PMOS, with capacitor connected in parallel, is used in order to reduce the noise contribution in the oscillated frequency even at low voltage supply. Moreover, an accumulation MOS varactor is adopted to provide 29% wider tuning frequency range compared with a diode varactor under same full tuning voltage. With a 0.8 V supply, this 1.6 GHz top-biased A-MOS VCO consumes 9 mW, included output buffer, with a measured phase noise of −109.3 dBc/Hz @ 600 kHz offset.     

A 25-GHz ultra-low phase noise InGaP/GaAs HBT VCO

A 25-GHz monolithic voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) has been designed and fabricated in a commercial InGaP/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) process. This balanced VCO has a novel topology using a feedback /spl pi/-network and a common-emitter transistor configuration. Ultra-low phase noise is achieved: -106 dBc/Hz and -130 dBc/Hz at 100kHz and 1-MHz offset frequency, respectively. To the authors' knowledge, this is the lowest phase noise achieved in a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) VCO at such high frequency. The single-ended output power is -1 dBm. It can be tuned between 25.33GHz and 25.75GHz using the base-collector junction capacitor of the HBT as a varactor. The dc power consumption is 90mW for a 9-V supply. An excellent figure-of-merit of -195 dBc/Hz is obtained.     

0.35m SiGe BiCMOS工艺Colpitts振荡器

应用标准0.35μm SiGeBiCMOS工艺设计一个Colpitts压控振荡器并流片。采用线性时变模型(LTV)分析振荡器的相位噪声。在3.3V电源电压下,压控振荡器的频率范围覆盖340～400MHz,10kHz频偏处相位噪声为-91dBc/Hz,输出功率-3dBm。相位噪声的测试结果与理论计算结果符合较好。芯片面积550μm×300μm。     

一种基于55nmCMOS工艺，输出频率0.1G-1.5G Hz的低抖动锁相环

本文设计了一种0.1G-1.5GHz,3.07pS RMS 抖动的多相位输出锁相环。通过引入双路径电荷泵,极大的减小了锁相环中的低通滤波器的尺寸。基于指定的功耗约束,提出了一种新颖的压控振荡器、电荷泵与鉴频鉴相器的尺寸优化方法,使用该方法,每个模块输出相位噪声减小了约3-6dBc/Hz。该锁相环在55nm的工艺下流片,集成了16pF的MOM电容,占用面积仅为0.05平方毫米。输出1.5GHz信号时,功耗2.8mW,相位噪声为-102dBc/Hz@1MHz。     

Balanced Colpitt oscillator MMICs designed for ultra-low phase noise

Balanced voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) based on a coupled Colpitt topology with a fully integrated tank are presented utilizing SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) and InGaP/GaAs HBT technologies. Minimum phase noise is obtained for all designs by optimization of the tank circuit including the varactor, maximizing the tank amplitude, and designing the VCO for Class C operation. Fundamental and second harmonic VCOs are evaluated. A minimum phase noise of less than -112 dBc at an output power of 5.5 dBm is achieved at 100-kHz carrier offset and 6.4-GHz oscillation frequency for the fundamental InGaP/GaAs HBT VCO. The second harmonic VCO achieves a minimum measured phase noise of -120 dBc at 100 kHz at 13 GHz. To our best knowledge, this is the lowest reported phase noise to date for a varactor-based VCO with a fully integrated tank. The fundamental frequency SiGe HBT oscillator achieves a phase noise of -108 dBc at 100 kHz at 5 GHz. All MMICs are fabricated in commercial foundry MMIC processes.     

A self-calibration technique for wide tuning range PLLs

This paper presents a new calibration technique applicable for wide tuning range phase locked loops (PLLs) using very low gain voltage controlled oscillators (VCO). This technique uses the PLL main loop for the coarse and fine tuning of the VCO. Instead of using two loops which has been reported in previous works, in this work the VCO tuning voltage is used to calibrate the VCO switch capacitor array. Since the proposed calibration circuit operates in a closed loop form, it can be used for channel selection as well as adjusting for process, voltage and temperature variations. In addition, the calibration circuit has been used to set the VCO tail current in order to optimize VCO phase noise. A prototype frequency synthesizer has been designed in 0.18-μm CMOS process to work for a frequency range from 2.4 to 2.72 GHz. Simulation results show that using the proposed technique, a spur level of ?60 dB at 5 MHz offset from carrier was achieved while having negligible power overhead.     

A 125 GHz millimeter-wave phase lock loop with improved VCO and injection-locked frequency divider in 65 nm CMOS process

In this paper, a CMOS mm-wave phase locked loop (PLL) with improved voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) and injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) at operational harmonic frequency 125 GHz is presented. The VCO structure uses the bulk effective and MOS varactor capacitor to adjust parasitic capacitor of the cross coupled pair. It obtains 2th harmonic frequency with 24% tuning range (110–140 GHz) by applying?±?1.2 V input voltage variation. The divide-by-4 ILFD circuit uses a cross coupled VCO with three injection transistors acting in linear and nonlinear regions. The frequency dividers such as divided-by-4 ILFD, subsequent current mode logic (CML) and true single phase clock (TSPC) as divider chain with ratio 1/256 are used to synthesize frequency 244 MHz which is compared to reference frequency, 244 MHz in the PLL. Simulation results of the proposed PLL circuit are obtained after extracting post layout (with total chip size of 0.29 mm²) in 65 nm CMOS standard technology and @ 1.2 V power supply voltage. The obtained results confirm theoretical relations and indicate that the proposed circuit has good figure of merit (FoM), and higher tuning range and lower die area than the recent designs.