Title :
A −189 dBc/Hz FOMT wide tuning range Ka-band VCO using tunable negative capacitance and inductance redistribution
Author :
Qiyang Wu ; Elabd, S. ; Quach, T.K. ; Mattamana, A. ; Dooley, S.R. ; McCue, Jamin ; Orlando, P.L. ; Creech, G.L. ; Khalil, Waleed
Author_Institution :
Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH, USA
Abstract :
An ultra wideband LC voltage-controlled oscillator (LC-VCO) operating in the Ka-band with equally spaced sub-band coarse tuning characteristics is proposed and characterized. A tunable negative capacitance (TNC) circuit technique is used to cancel the fixed capacitance in the LC-tank to extend the tuning range (TR). A digitally-switched varactor coarse tuning structure with an inductance redistribution technique is utilized to reduce VCO gain (KV) and retain uniform spacing between tuning curves. The proposed VCO structure and a baseline VCO are fabricated in a 130 nm CMOS process. Compared to the reference VCO, the proposed VCO achieves a 34% increase in TR with maximum KV of 450 MHz/V. The measured worst-case phase noise is -100.1 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset across the TR from 30.5 GHz to 39.6 GHz. The power dissipation of the VCO core is 11 mW from a 1.2 V supply. The TNC-based VCO achieves a FOMT of -189 dBc/Hz, which is the highest reported at the Ka-band.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; circuit tuning; field effect MIMIC; millimetre wave oscillators; phase noise; varactors; voltage-controlled oscillators; CMOS process; LC-VCO; MMIC oscillators; TNC; frequency 30.5 GHz to 39.6 GHz; inductance redistribution; phase noise; power 11 mW; size 130 nm; tunable negative capacitance; tuning curves; tuning range; ultra wideband LC voltage controlled oscillator; varactor coarse tuning structure; voltage 1.2 V; CMOS integrated circuits; Capacitance; Feeds; Inductance; Phase noise; Tuning; Voltage-controlled oscillators;
Conference_Titel :
Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium (RFIC), 2013 IEEE
Conference_Location :
Seattle, WA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4673-6059-3
DOI :
10.1109/RFIC.2013.6569560