Transient Behavior and Phase Noise Performance of Pulsed-Harmonic Oscillators

The analysis of a low-power, temperature- and supply voltage-independent oscillator based on a pulsed LC tank is presented. The frequency is determined by a bondwire inductor and a MiM capacitor to obtain a high-Q LC tank. Due to a novel way of driving the LC tank, the power consumption is reduced. Since the driving technique only interacts with the LC tank during a very short period, the frequency mainly depends on the stable LC tank, hence the temperature and supply voltage dependency is lowered drastically. The phase noise of the tank, the noise propagation and the transient effects of the driving technique are analyzed theoretically. The results are compared to a 130 nm test chip. The samples were measured over a 0.6 to 1.6 V supply range and a -40 to 100 ^°C temperature range showing a very low temperature dependency of 92 ppm/^°C and a voltage dependency of 73 ppm/V. The frequency standard deviation over 12 automatically bonded samples of the same wafer is 0.76% (359 KHz).