A high-frequency electronically tunable quadrature oscillator

An architecture composed of mutually regenerative oscillators is introduced. It has been used to design a low-noise high-frequency voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) capable of producing two output signals in quadrature with essentially identical properties. The phase relation between the quadrature outputs is frequency dependent and extremely stable. A novel way of coupling the regenerative oscillators is suggested in order to improve the frequency stability of the coupled oscillator system. Results obtained from a test chip have verified the viability of the oscillator concept. The oscillator circuit has been realized in a medium-frequency bipolar process. The tuning range extends to 500 MHz. At an oscillation frequency of 200 MHz, measured phase noise was -121 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz distance from the carrier.