An integrated inductorless quadrature voltage controlled oscillator design in a 47 GHz SiGe process

An RF inductorless quadrature voltage controlled oscillator (QVCO) with more than 6 GHz of tuning range is described. Significant area savings are possible with this architecture compared to the traditional LC-tank QVCOs, and the circuit can be operated at frequencies near the f_T of the transistors utilized. The proposed high frequency QVCO design can be fabricated in a lower cost technology since it does not require monolithic inductors or high-Q varactors. A new method of tuning the QVCO stabilizes the output power over the tuning range. At 13 GHz phase noises of -79.81 dBc/Hz and -84.27 dBc/Hz at offsets of 600 kHz and 1 MHz were simulated. The integrated circuit was designed to operate from a 3.3 V supply, and was fabricated in a 47 GHz silicon germanium bipolar process.