LC voltage controlled oscillator in 0.18-μm RF CMOS

An integrated low-phase-noise voltage-controlled oscillator(VCO) has been designed and fabricated in SMIC 0.18μm RF CMOS technology.The circuit employs an optimally designed LC resonator and a differential cross-coupling amplifier acts as a negative resistor to compensate the energy loss of the resonator.To extend the frequency tuning range,a three-bit binary-weighted switched capacitor array is used in the circuit.The testing result indicates that the VCO achieves a tuning range of 60%from 1.92 to 3.35 GHz.The phase noise of the VCO is -117.8 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset from the carrier frequency of 2.4 GHz.It draws 5.6 mA current from a 1.8 V supply.The VCO integrated circuit occupies a die area of 600×900μm~2.It can be used in the IEEE802.11 b based wireless local network receiver.