29 GHz low phase noise oscillator utilizing high-Q LTCC resonator

This paper proposes a low cost, miniaturized, low phase noise, medium power, free running millimeter wave oscillator by embedding a high Q laminated waveguide (LWG) resonator in the same low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) package that houses the monolithic oscillator active circuit. This novel technique overcomes the drawbacks of the hybrid waveguideldielectric resonator oscillators and the fully monolithic integrated oscillators. A 29 GHz oscillator is designed using an active monolithic chip fabricated in GaAs p-HEMT technology and the high-Q LTCC rectangular resonator. The measured output power is 11 dBm at 28.9 GHz for a conversion efficiency of 6%. The free running phase noise is -101.5 dBcMz at 100 KHz offset, which is among the hest results ever reported for a free running ma-band oscillator. This represents the first reported instance of a low phase noise oscillator utilizing a high Q resonator embedded in the same LTCC package.