Noise characteristics of an oscillator with a barium strontium titanate (BST) varactor

The phase noise of an oscillator with a thin-film barium strontium titanate (BST) capacitive tuning element, or varactor, is characterised and benchmarked against the same oscillator with a silicon semiconductor junction varactor. Phase noise tracks closely with varactor Q within a specific voltage range as expected. Compared to the semiconductor varactor-based oscillator, the BST-based oscillator demonstrates reduced phase noise degradation near zero volts, but greater phase noise degradation when operated near breakdown.