Monolithic multi-phase LC-VCO in ultra-thin silicon-on-insulator (UTSi®-SOI) CMOS technology

We present the theoretical design, modeling and fabrication of novel full-balanced, differential, single- and quadratic-phase LC-tank VCOs for microwave PLL frequency synthesizers, wireless, and optical communications. We present a multi-phase differential VCO design methodology based-on traveling wave theory. The monolithic VCOs are designed in 0.5-μm Peregrine Semiconductor Ultra-Thin Silicon (UTSi®) on insulator technology. The varactor-based quadrature VCO has a simulated phase-noise of less than -110 dB at 1 MHz offset frequency from a 4 GHz carrier, with less than 5 mW power consumption at nominal 3-V voltage supply. The outputs are 3-V peak-to-peak signals which are enough for mixer circuits operating in the linear region or being accepted by current mode differential logic and other low voltage differential logic.