An integrated frequency synthesizer for 81–86GHz satellite communications in 65nm CMOS

We present an integrated frequency synthesizer in 65nm CMOS to enable the 81-86GHz satellite communication transceiver. The frequency synthesizer is inserted in a two-step zero-IF millimeter-wave transceiver with LO_RF at 70-78GHz and LO_IF at 1/8 of LO_RF to cover the desired entire frequency bands. It also features coarse phase rotation to endow beam forming capabilities for the intended communication system. The phase noise is <; -83dBc/Hz at 1MHz offset as extrapolated from measured value at 1/8 of the VCO frequency (~9.4GHz). The measured reference spur is <;-49dBc. Total synthesizer power consumption including LO buffers and phase rotators is 65mW at 1V power supply and the compact layout has rendered small synthesizer core area of 0.16mm².