9.3-10.4-GHz-band cross-coupled complementary oscillator with low phase-noise performance

A fully integrated 10-GHz-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) has been designed and fabricated using commercial 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The complementary cross-coupled differential topology is adopted in the design. The measured phase-noise is around -89 dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 100 kHz from the center frequency of 9.83 GHz, the output frequency tuning range of the fabricated VCO is 1.1 GHz ranging from 9.3 to 10.4 GHz, and the power consumption of the core VCO circuit is 5.8 mW. The design is the first one that adopts the complementary cross-coupled circuit structure for 10-GHz-band oscillators, and whose performances of the VCO are the best ones for 10-GHz-band oscillators, compared with the 10-GHz-band CMOS oscillators reported earlier.     

Low-power low-phase-noise differentially tuned quadrature VCOdesign in standard CMOS

This paper describes the design and optimization of VCOs with quadrature outputs. Systematic design of fully integrated LC-VCOs with a high inductance tank leads to a cross-coupled double core LC-VCO as the optimal solution in terms of power consumption. Furthermore, a novel fully differential frequency tuning concept is introduced to ease high integration. The concepts are verified with a 0.25-μm standard CMOS fully integrated quadrature VCO for zero- or low-IF DCS1800, DECT, or GSM receivers. At 2.5-V power supply voltage and a total power dissipation of 20 mW, the quadrature VCO features a worst-case phase noise of -143 dBc/Hz at 3-MHz frequency offset over the tuning range. The oscillator is tuned from 1.71 to 1.99 GHz through a differential nMOS/pMOS varactor input     

应用于IMT-A和UWB系统的0.13μm CMOS宽带压控振荡器设计

基于TSMC 0.13μm CMOS工艺设计并实现了应用于IMT-Advanced和UWB系统的双频段宽带频率合成器中的电感电容压控振荡器(LC-VCO)。此压控振荡器的设计采用了开关电流源、开关交叉耦合对和噪声滤波等技术,以优化电路的相位噪声,功耗,振荡幅度,调谐范围等性能。为达到宽的调谐范围,核心电路采用了4比特可重构的开关电容调谐阵列。整个芯片包括焊盘面积为1.11′0.98 mm₂。测试结果表明,在1.2V电源电压下,两个频段压控振荡器所消耗的电流分别为3mA和4.5mA,压控振荡器的调谐范围为3.86~5.28GHz和3.14~3.88GHz。在振荡频率3.5GHz和4.2GHz上,1MHz频偏处,压控振荡器的相位噪声分别为-123dBc/Hz与-119dBc/Hz。     

A 1-V 9.7-mW CMOS Frequency Synthesizer for IEEE 802.11a Transceivers

A 1-V CMOS frequency synthesizer is proposed for wireless local area network 802.11a transceivers using a novel transformer-feedback voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) for low voltage and a stacked frequency divider for low power. Implemented in a 0.18-mum CMOS process and operated at 1-V supply, the VCO measures a phase noise of -140.5 dBc at an offset of 20 MHz with a center frequency of 4.26 GHz and a power consumption of 5.17 mW. Its tuning range is as wide as 920 MHz (23%). By integrating the VCO into a frequency synthesizer, a phase noise of -140.1 dBc/Hz at an offset of 20 MHz is measured at a center frequency of 4.26 GHz. Its output frequency can be changed from 4.112 to 4.352 GHz by switching the 3-bit modulus of the programmable divider. The synthesizer consumes only 9.7 mW and occupies a chip area of 1.28 mm².     

A 21.5/43-GHz dual-frequency balanced Colpitts VCO in SiGe technology

A balanced Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is designed and fabricated in a commercially available 0.25-/spl mu/m SiGe BiCMOS process. It has the characteristics of the push-push VCO, i.e., the VCO has simultaneously a differential output at a fundamental frequency of 21.5 GHz and a single-ended output at the second harmonic frequency of 43 GHz. A differential tuning technique is applied to reduce the phase noise. The measured phase noise at 1-MHz offset is -113 dBc/Hz at 21.5 GHz and -107 dBc/Hz at 43 GHz. The corresponding output power is about -6 and -17 dBm, respectively, with a 5% tuning range and a 130-mW dc power consumption.     

SiGe Bipolar VCO With Ultra-Wide Tuning Range at 80 GHz Center Frequency

A SiGe millimeter-wave VCO with a center frequency around 80 GHz and an extremely wide (continuous) tuning range of 24.5 GHz ( ap 30%) is presented. The phase noise at 1 MHz offset is -97 dBc/Hz at the center frequency (and less than -94 dBc/Hz in a frequency range of 21 GHz). The maximum total output power is about 12 dBm. A cascode buffer improves decoupling from the output load at reasonable VCO power consumption (240 mW at 5 V supply voltage). A low-power frequency divider (operating up to 100 GHz) provides, in addition, a divided-by-four signal. As a further intention of this paper, the basic reasons for the limitation of the tuning range in millimeter-wave VCOs are shown and the improvement by using two (instead of one) varactor pairs is demonstrated.     

A fully integrated 5.8 GHz U-NII band 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS VCO

A fully integrated 5.8 GHz CMOS L-C tank voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) using a 0.18-/spl mu/m 1P6M standard CMOS process for 5 GHz U-NII band WLAN application is presented. The VCO core circuit uses only PMOS to pursue a better phase noise performance since it has less 1/f noise than NMOS. The measurement is performed by using a FR-4 PCB test fixture. The output frequency of the VCO is from 5860 to 6026 MHz with a 166 MHz tuning range and the phase noise is -96.9 dBc/Hz at 300 kHz (or -110 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz) with V ctrl = 0 V. The power consumption of the VCO excluding buffer amplifiers is 8.1 mW at V/sub DD/ = 1.8 V and the output power is -4 dBm.     

20-GHz Quadrature Injection-Locked LC Dividers With Enhanced Locking Range

Quadrature injection-lockedLC dividers with either a Miller topology or an injection-lockedLC VCO topology are coupled with transconductors to enhance their locking range. The effect of the transconductance coupling is analyzed theoretically and through circuit simulation. Both topologies were fabricated by 90-nm CMOS technology with a target input center frequency of 20 GHz and output frequency of 10 GHz. The measured locking range for the Miller topology with transconductance coupling is 25.3%, compared to 20.9% without coupling. The measured locking range for the injection-locked LC VCO topology with transconductance coupling is 18.1%, compared to 12.9% without coupling. Moreover, power consumption for both dividers is 6.4 mW with a 1.2-V supply.     

A low-noise, low-power VCO with automatic amplitude control forwireless applications

Voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) used in portable wireless communications applications, such as cellular telephony, are required to achieve low phase-noise levels while consuming minimal power. This paper presents the design challenges of a VCO with automatic amplitude control, which operates in the 300 MHz to 1.2 GHz frequency range using different external resonators. The VCO phase noise level is -106 dBc/Hz at 100-KHz offset from an 800-MHz carrier, and it consumes 1.6 mA from a 2.7-V power supply. An extensive phase-noise analysis is employed for this VCO design in order to identify the most important noise sources in the circuit and to find the optimum tradeoff between noise performance and power consumption     

Design of wide-band CMOS VCO for multiband wireless LAN applications

In this paper, a general design methodology of low-voltage wide-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) suitable for wireless LAN (WLAN) application is described. The applications of high-quality passives for the resonator are introduced: 1) a single-loop horseshoe inductor with Q > 20 between 2 and 5 GHz for good phase noise performance; and 2) accumulation MOS (AMOS) varactors with C/sub max//C/sub min/ ratio of 6 to provide wide-band tuning capability at low-voltage supply. The adverse effect of AMOS varactors due to high sensitivity is examined. Amendment using bandswitching topology is suggested, and a phase noise improvement of 7 dB is measured to prove the concept. The measured VCO operates on a 1-V supply with a wide tuning range of 58.7% between 3.0 and 5.6 GHz when tuned between /spl plusmn/0.7 V. The phase noise is -120 dBc/Hz at 3.0 GHz, and -114.5 dBc/Hz at 5.6 GHz, with the nominal power dissipation between 2 and 3 mW across the whole tuning range. The best phase noise at 1-MHz offset is -124 dBc/Hz at the frequency of 3 GHz, a supply voltage of 1.4 V, and power dissipation of 8.4 mW. When the supply is reduced to 0.83 V, the VCO dissipates less than 1 mW at 5.6 GHz. Using this design methodology, the feasibility of generating two local oscillator frequencies (2.4-GHz ISM and 5-GHz U-NII) for WLAN transceiver using a single VCO with only one monolithic inductor is demonstrated. The VCO is fabricated in a 0.13-/spl mu/m partially depleted silicon-on-insulator CMOS process.     

Wide tuning-range CMOS VCO based on a tunable active inductor

In this paper, a wide tuning-range CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with high output power using an active inductor circuit is presented. In this VCO design, the coarse frequency is achieved by tuning the integrated active inductor. The circuit has been simulated using a 0.18-µm CMOS fabrication process and presents output frequency range from 100 MHz to 2.5 GHz, resulting in a tuning range of 96%. The phase noise is –85 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz frequency offset. The output power is from –3 dBm at 2.55 GHz to +14 dBm at 167 MHz. The active inductor power dissipation is 6.5 mW and the total power consumption is 16.27 mW when operating on a 1.8 V supply voltage. By comparing this active inductor architecture VCO with general VCO topology, the result shows that this topology, which employs the proposed active inductor, produces a better performance.     

A Low-Power 114-GHz Push–Push CMOS VCO Using LC Source Degeneration

An LC source-degeneration negative-resistance cell of an LC VCO is investigated, which is capable of operating at millimeter-wave (MMW) range with low dc power consumption. Several negative-resistance cells in LC oscillators are also compared. The LC source-degenerated topology is demonstrated through a 114-GHz push-push fully integrated LC VCO implemented in TSMC 0.13-mum CMOS process. With core power consumption of 8.4 mW, the tuning range at the fundamental port is 56.4-57.6 GHz and at the push-push port is 112.8-115.2 GHz. The measured phase noise at the fundamental port is -13.6 dBc/Hz at 10-MHz offset. This VCO is believed to have the best figure of merit among MMW VCOs using bulk CMOS processes.     

Small size, low power consumption, low phase noise MMIC VCO usingoff-chip packaging resonator for mobile communication

An MMIC VCO with a new type of frequency tunable multilayer ceramic resonator for mobile communication is designed and fabricated for the 2 GHz band. The VCO presents a dramatic size reduction and a C/N performance of -100 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz. Its RF output power is about -3 dBm, the frequency tuning range is 110 MHz, and current consumption is 7mA of DC     

Millimeter-wave voltage-controlled oscillators in 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS technology

This paper describes the design of CMOS millimeter-wave voltage controlled oscillators. Varactor, transistor, and inductor designs are optimized to reduce the parasitic capacitances. An investigation of tradeoff between quality factor and tuning range for MOS varactors at 24 GHz has shown that the polysilicon gate lengths between 0.18 and 0.24 /spl mu/m result both good quality factor (>12) and C/sub max//C/sub min/ ratio (/spl sim/3) in the 0.13-/spl mu/m CMOS process used for the study. The components were utilized to realize a VCO operating around 60 GHz with a tuning range of 5.8 GHz. A 99-GHz VCO with a tuning range of 2.5 GHz, phase noise of -102.7 dBc/Hz at 10-MHz offset and power consumption of 7-15mW from a 1.5-V supply and a 105-GHz VCO are also demonstrated. This is the CMOS circuit with the highest fundamental operating frequency. The lumped element approach can be used even for VCOs operating near 100-GHz and it results a smaller circuit area.     

A 5.6 GHz Low Power Balanced VCO in 0.18 $mu$m CMOS

A 5.6 GHz balanced voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is designed and implemented in a 0.18 mum CMOS 1P6M process. It consists of two single-ended complementary Colpitts LC-tank VCOs coupled by two pairs of varactors. At the supply voltage of 1.2 V, the output phase noise of the VCO is -119.13 dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset frequency from the carrier frequency of 5.6 GHz, and the figure of merit is -190.29 dBc/Hz. Total VCO core power consumption is 2.4 mW. Tuning range is about 600 MHz, from 5.36 to 5.96 GHz, while the control voltage was tuned from 0 to 1.2 V.     

Fully integrated SiGe VCOs with powerful output buffer for 77-GHz automotive Radar systems and applications around 100 GHz

It is demonstrated that SiGe bipolar technologies are well suited for voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) in 77-GHz automotive radar systems. For this, the design of a VCO with powerful output buffer (with good decoupling capability and high output power), comparatively wide tuning range, and reasonably low phase noise is described. To achieve the required high output power, the potential operating range of the output transistors, limited by high-current effects and avalanche breakdown, respectively, had to be exploited using adequate transistor models. The VCOs need a single supply voltage only and have been fully integrated (including resonant circuit and output buffer) on a single small (1 mm/sup 2/) chip, demonstrating their low-cost potential. Experimental results showed, at a center frequency of around 77 GHz, a usable tuning range of 6.7 GHz and a phase noise of -97 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset frequency averaged over this range. In addition, the center oscillation frequency can be coarsely adjusted within a wide range by cutting links in the upper metallization layer. The total signal power delivered by both buffer outputs together is as high as 18.5 dBm at a power consumption of 1.2 W. Simulations let us expect a potential doubling of the output power (for two or four outputs) by extension of the output buffer. To get an impression of the maximum frequency achievable with the circuit concept and technology used, a second VCO (again with buffered output) has been developed. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the measured maximum oscillation frequency of about 100 GHz, at 12.4-dBm total output power (14.3 dBm at 99 GHz), is a record value for SiGe VCOs with buffered output operating at their fundamental frequency. The usable tuning range is still 6.2 GHz.     

基于电感电容振荡器的电荷泵锁相环的设计

设计并实现了一种采用电感电容振荡器的电荷泵锁相环,分析了锁相环中鉴频/鉴相器(PFD)、电荷泵(CP)、环路滤波器(LP)、电感电容压控振荡器(VCO)的电路结构和设计考虑。锁相环芯片采用0.13μm MS&RF CMOS工艺制造。测试结果表明,锁相环锁定的频率为5.6～6.9 GHz。在6.25 GHz时,参考杂散为-51.57 dBc;1 MHz频偏处相位噪声为-98.35 dBc/Hz;10 MHz频偏处相位噪声为-120.3 dBc/Hz;在1.2 V/3.3 V电源电压下,锁相环的功耗为51.6 mW。芯片总面积为1.334 mm2。     

A 0.35-/spl mu/m CMOS 2-GHz VCO in wafer-level package

This letter presents a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) with a high-Q inductor in a wafer-level package for the LC-resonator. The on-chip inductor is implemented using the redistribution metal layer of the wafer-level package (WLP), and therefore it is called a WLP inductor. Using the thick passivation and copper metallization, the WLP inductor has high quality-factor (Q-factor). A 2-nH inductor exhibits a Q-factor of 8 at 2 GHz. The center frequency of the VCO is 2.16 GHz with a tuning range of 385 MHz (18%). The minimum phase noise is measured to be -120.2 dBc/Hz at an offset frequency of 600 kHz. The dc power consumed by the VCO-core is 1.87 mW with a supply voltage of 1.7 V and a current of 1.1 mA. The output power with a 50-/spl Omega/ load is -12.5/spl plusmn/1.3 dBm throughout the whole tuning range. From the best of our knowledge, compared with recently published 2-GHz-band 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS VCOs in the literature, the VCO in this work shows the lowest power consumption and the best figure-of-merit.     

CMOS VCO and LNA Using Tuned-Input Tuned-Output Circuits

A tuned-input tuned-output (TITO) VCO utilizes two resonant-tanks to achieve a low measured phase noise of 130.5 dBc/Hz @ 1 MHz offset from 2.5 GHz center frequency. Improvement in phase noise is achieved with comparable power consumption and tuning range compared to a cross-coupled VCO topology. A TITO cell similar to that in the VCO is used as a common-source amplifier in a current-reuse configuration cascaded with a -boosted common-gate amplifier to realize a high gain (20 dB), low power (2.7 mW) LNA. A technique to improve the linearity of the current-reuse LNA is also presented.     

Transformer-Based Dual-Mode Voltage-Controlled Oscillators

In this brief, we propose to use a transformer-based resonator to build a dual-mode oscillator, e.g., a system capable of oscillating at two different frequencies without recurring to switched inductors, switched capacitors, or varactors. The behavior of the resonator configured as a one-port and a two-port network is studied analytically, and the dependence of the quality factor on the design parameters is thoroughly explored. These results, combined with the use of traditional frequency tuning techniques, are applied to the design of a wide-band voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that covers the frequency range 3.6-7.8 GHz. The performance of the designed VCO, implemented in a digital 0.13-mum CMOS technology, has been studied by transistor-level and 2.5D electromagnetic simulation (Agilent Momentum). A typical phase noise performance at 1-MHz offset of -104 dBc/Hz has been predicted, while the power consumption ranges from 1 to 8 mW, depending on the VCO configuration