A Millimeter-Wave CMOS LC-Tank VCO With an Admittance-Transforming Technique

A novel circuit topology suitable for millimeter-wave voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) is presented. With the admittance-transforming technique, the proposed VCO can operate at a frequency close to the f_max of the transistors while maintaining remarkable circuit performance in terms of phase noise, tuning range, and output power. Using a standard micrometer CMOS process, a U-band VCO is implemented for demonstration. The fabricated circuit exhibits a frequency tuning range of 1.1 GHz in the vicinity of 50 GHz. The measured output power and phase noise at 1-MHz offset are -11 dBm and -101 dBc/Hz, respectively. Operated at a supply voltage of 1.8 V, the VCO core consumes a DC power of 45 mW.     

A 15/30-GHz Dual-Band Multiphase Voltage-Controlled Oscillator in 0.18- μm CMOS

A multiphase oscillator suitable for 15/30-GHz dual-band applications is presented. In the circuit implementation, the 15-GHz half-quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is realized by a rotary traveling-wave oscillator, while frequency doublers are adopted to generate the quadrature output signals at the 30-GHz frequency band. The proposed circuit is fabricated in a standard 0.18-mum CMOS process with a chip area of 1.1times1.0 mm². Operated at a 2-V supply voltage, the VCO core consumes a dc power of 52 mW. With a frequency tuning range of 250 MHz, the 15-GHz half-quadrature VCO exhibits an output power of -8 dBm and a phase noise of -112 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset frequency. The measured power level and phase noise of the 30-GHz quadrature outputs are -16 dBm and -104 dBc/Hz, respectively     

A 900-MHz 1.5-V CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator using switched resonators with a wide tuning range

A 900-MHz fully integrated VCO was fabricated in a 0.18-/spl mu/m foundry CMOS process. Under 1.5 V power supply, this VCO can be tuned from 667 MHz to 1156 MHz which corresponds to a 53.6% tuning range. The VCO has nearly constant phase noise over the whole tuning frequency, credit to the switched resonators used in this VCO. The phase noise at a 600 kHz offset is -123.1 dBc/Hz at 1125 MHz center frequency and -124.2 dBc/Hz at 667 MHz center frequency.     

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 of Wide-Tuning-Range Millimeter-Wave CMOS VCO With a Standing-Wave Architecture

The design of a wide-tuning-range millimeter-wave CMOS VCO is presented in this paper. In contrast to the conventional wideband topologies, a nonuniform standing-wave oscillator utilizing tapered gain elements, switched transmission lines and distributed varactors is employed to provide an extended output range with the coarse and fine frequency tuning. Due to the use of the transmission line architecture and the position-dependent amplitude of the standing waves, the loading effects of the varactors and the MOS switches can be alleviated, enabling the VCO to operate at higher frequencies. Using a 0.18-mum CMOS process, a 40-GHz VCO is designed and implemented. Consuming a DC power of 27 mW from a 1.5-V supply voltage, the fabricated circuit exhibits a frequency tuning range of 7.5 GHz with an output power level ranging from -13.6 to -4 dBm. The measured phase noise at 1-MHz offset is lower than -96 dBc/Hz within the entire frequency range. This work demonstrates the widest tuning range in percentage among the CMOS VCOs at millimeter-wave frequencies.     

基于90nmCMOS工艺的低功耗宽带压控振荡器设计

A low power VCO with a wide tuning range and low phase noise has been designed and realized in a standard 90 nm CMOS technology. A newly proposed current-reuse cross-connected pair is utilized as a negative conductance generator to compensate the energy loss of the resonator. The supply current is reduced by half compared to that of the conventional LC-VCO. An improved inversion-mode MOSFET(IMOS) varactor is introduced to extend the capacitance tuning range from 32.8% to 66%. A detailed analysis of the proposed varactor is provided. The VCO achieves a tuning range of 27–32.5 GHz, exhibiting a frequency tuning range(FTR) of 18.4%and a phase noise of –101.38 d Bc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from a 30 GHz carrier, and shows an excellent FOM of –185d Bc/Hz. With the voltage supply of 1.5 V, the core circuit of VCO draws only 2.1 m A DC current.     

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.     

新型复合沟道Al0.3Ga0.7N/Al0.05Ga0.95N/GaN HEMT低相位噪声微波单片集成压控振荡器

设计并研制了一种新型复合沟道Al0.3Ga0.7N/Al0.05Ga0.95N/GaN HEMT(CC-HEMT)微波单片集成压控振荡器(VCO),且测试了电路的性能.CC-HEMT的栅长为1μm,栅宽为100μm.叉指金属-半导体-金属(MSM)变容二极管被设计用于调谐VCO频率.为提高螺旋电感的Q值,聚酰亚胺介质被插入在电感金属层与外延在蓝宝石上GaN层之间.当CC-HEMT的直流偏置为Vgs=-3V,Vds=6V,变容二极管的调谐电压从5.5V到8.5V时,VCO的频率变化从7.04GHz到7.29GHz,平均输出功率为10dBm,平均功率附加效率为10.4%.当加在变容二极管上电压为6.7V时,测得的相位噪声为-86.25dBc/Hz(在频偏100KHz时)和-108dB/Hz(在频偏1MHz时),这个结果也是整个调谐范围的平均值.据我们所知,这个相位噪声测试结果是文献报道中基于GaN HEMT单片VCO的最好结果.     

A low-noise, 900-MHz VCO in 0.6-μm CMOS

This paper describes a low-noise, 900-MHz, voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) fabricated in a 0.6-μm CMOS technology. The VCO consists of four-stage fully differential delay cells performing full switching. It utilizes dual-delay path techniques to achieve high oscillation frequency and obtain a wide tuning range. The VCO operates at 750 MHz to 1.2 GHz, and the tuning range is as large as 50%. The measured results of the phase noise are -101 dBc/Hz at 100-kHz offset and -117 dBc/Hz at 600-kHz offset from the carrier frequency. This value is comparable to that of LC-based integrated oscillators. The oscillator consumes 10 mA from a 3.0-V power supply. A prototype frequency synthesizer with the VCO is also implemented in the same technology, and the measured phase noise of the synthesizer is -113 dSc/Hz at 100-kHz offset     

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 low-phase-noise K-band CMOS VCO

A novel circuit topology for low-phase-noise voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) is presented in this letter. By employing a PMOS cross-coupled pair with a capacitive feedback, superior circuit performance can be achieved especially at higher frequencies. Based on the proposed architecture, a prototype VCO implemented in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS process is demonstrated for K-band applications. From the measurement results, the VCO exhibits a 510-MHz frequency tuning range at 20GHz. The output power and the phase noise at 1-MHz offset are -3dBm and -111dBc/Hz, respectively. The fabricated circuit consumes a dc power of 32mW from a 1.8-V supply voltage.     

A 580-μW 1.8–6 GHz Multiband Switched-Resonator SiGe VCO With 0.3-V Supply Voltage

This letter presents a fully integrated low-power low-voltage multiband switched-resonator differential cross-coupled voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) implemented in 0.18 SiGe-BiCMOS technology. The VCO operates with a supply voltage as low as 0.29 V, owing to the low knee-voltage provided by the technology, and consumes a total power of 580 muW. Utilizing a switched-resonator, the VCO covers a wide switched frequency range of 1.83-2.97 GHz and 4.36-6.17 GHz with measured phase noise of around 112.2 dBc/Hz with 0.29 V supply and 119.7 dBc/Hz with 1 V supply at 1 MHz offset. Since high-frequency bands experience higher phase noise than the low frequency bands, high- short microstrip line inductors have been used for the high-frequency bands. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the reported VCO achieves the widest switched frequency tuning range with lowest core supply voltage.     

A Low Supply Voltage VCO Implemented by a Single Common-Source 90 nm CMOS Transistor

A novel voltage controlled oscillation (VCO) topology using 90-m CMOS technology is demonstrated. The common-source PMOS single transistor integrated with an inductor leads to negative resistance for the VCO that minimizes the transistor size and decreases the flicker noise sources. To our knowledge, the topology of the core VCO is the most compact configuration ever reported. The fabricated VCO consumes 6.26mW with a supply voltage of 1 V and has a 1.68times1.41 mm² chip area, including the ESD protection circuit. At 1.77 GHz, PMOS VCO features an output power in the range of -5.2 dBm, and exhibits a phase noise of -94 dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 300 kHz and -107 dBc/Hz at 1MHz     

A 1.9-GHz CMOS VCO with micromachined electromechanically tunablecapacitors

This paper presents a 1.9-GHz CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) where the resonant circuit consists of micromachined electromechnically tunable capacitors and a bonding wire inductor. The tunable capacitors were implemented in a MUMP's polysilicon surface micromachining process. These devices have a nominal capacitance of 2.1 pF and a quality factor (Q-factor) of 9.3 at 1.9 GHz. The capacitance is variable from 2.1 pF to 2.9 pF within a 4-V control, voltage range. The active circuits were fabricated in a 0.5-μm CMOS process. The VCO was assembled in a ceramic package where the MUMP's and CMOS dice were bonded together. The experimental VCO achieves a phase noise of -98 dBc/Hz and -126 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz and 600 kHz offsets from the carrier, respectively. The tuning range of the VCO is 9%. The VCO circuit and the output buffer consume 15 mW and 30 mW from a 2.7-V power supply, respectively     

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%。     

A 5-GHz fully integrated full PMOS low-phase-noise LC VCO

A 5-GHz fully integrated, full PMOS, low-phase-noise and low-power differential voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is presented. This circuit is implemented in a 0.35-/spl mu/m four-metal BiCMOS SiGe process. At 2.7-V power supply voltage and a total power dissipation of only 13.5 mW, the proposed VCO features a worst case phase noise of -97 dBc/Hz and -117 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz and 1 MHz frequency offset, respectively. The oscillator is tuned from 5.13 to 5.68 GHz with a tuning voltage varying from 0 to 2.7 V.     

一种用于双波段GPS接收机的低功耗宽带CMOS频率合成器

提出了一种用于双波段GPS接收机的宽带CMOS频率合成器.该GPS接收机芯片已经在标准O.18μm射频CMOS工艺线上流片成功,并通过整体功能测试.其中压控振荡器可调振荡频率的覆盖范围设计为2～3.6GHz,覆盖了L1,L2波段的两倍频的频率点.并留有足够的裕量以确保在工艺角和温度变化较大时能覆盖所需频率.芯片测试结果显示,该频率综合器在L1波段正常工作时的功耗仅为5.6mW,此时的带内相位噪声小于-82dBc/Hz,带外相位噪声在距离3.142G载波1M频偏处约为-112dBc/Hz,这些指标很好地满足了GPS接收芯片的性能要求.     

A 12-GHz Fully Integrated Cascode CMOS LC VCO With Q-Enhancement Circuit

A fully integrated complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) cascode LC voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) with Q-enhancement technique has been designed for high frequency and low phase noise. The symmetrical cascode architecture is implemented with negative conductance circuit for improving phase noise performance in 0.18 mum CMOS technology. The measured phase noise is -110.8 dBc/Hz at the offset frequency of 1 MHz. The tuning range of 630 MHz is achieved with the control voltage from 0.6 to 1.4 V. The VCO draws 4.5 mA in a differential core circuit from 1.8 V supply.     

A 0.7 V 6.66–9.36 GHz wide tuning range CMOS LC VCO with small chip size

The circuit designs are based on TSMC 0.18 μm CMOS standard technology model. The designed circuit uses transformer coupling technology in order to decrease chip area and increase the Q value. The switched-capacitor topology array enables the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) to be tuned between 6.66 and 9.36 GHz with 4.9 mW power consumption at supply voltage of 0.7 V, and the tuning range of the circuit can reach 33.7%. The measured phase noise is ?110.5 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier frequency of 7.113 GHz. The output power level is about ?1.22 dBm. The figure-of-merit and figure-of-merit-with-tuning range of the VCO are about ?180.7 and ?191.25 dBc/Hz, respectively. The chip area is 0.429 mm² excluding the pads. The presented ultra-wideband VCO leads to a better performance in terms of power consumption, tuning range, chip size and output power level for low supply voltage.     

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.