Title :
A 52% tuning range QVCO with a reduced noise coupling scheme and a minimum FOMT of 196dBc/Hz
Author :
Elbadry, Mohammad ; Kalia, Sachin ; Harjani, Ramesh
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Electr. & Comput. Eng., Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
Abstract :
A wide-tuning range QVCO with a novel complimentary-coupling scheme is presented. Two NMOS-only VCOs are coupled via complimentary PMOS injection transistors. This shifts the injection current away from the zero-crossings of the output voltage, thereby reducing the sensitivity of the VCO to injection noise, which results in significant phase-noise improvement. Phase-shift is achieved without frequency-dependent phase-shifting networks, allowing robust coupling over a wide tuning range. As a proof-of-concept, a prototype is designed in TSMC 65nm process with 4-bits of discrete tuning spanning the frequency range 4.6-7.8 GHz (52% tuning range). The prototype operates from 0.5V supply, with a power consumption ranging from 7.4mW-11mW, while achieving a minimum figure-of-merit (FOM) of 181.6dBc/Hz, and a minimum figure-of-merit with tuning-range (FOMT) of 196dBc/Hz.
Keywords :
integrated circuit noise; phase shifters; voltage-controlled oscillators; complimentary PMOS injection transistors; discrete tuning; figure of merit; frequency 4.6 GHz to 7.8 GHz; injection current; injection noise; phase shift; power 7.4 mW to 11 mW; reduced noise coupling scheme; size 65 nm; tuning range QVCO; voltage 0.5 V; wide tuning range; Couplings; MOS devices; Noise; Oscillators; Power demand; Transistors; Tuning;
Conference_Titel :
Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC), 2014 IEEE Proceedings of the
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
DOI :
10.1109/CICC.2014.6946060